In the first three quarters of 2018, total throughput in the Port of Rotterdam was 0.4% less than in the same period the previous year. However, container volumes continued to grow at a higher pace than the first nine months of 2017.
On the other hand, wet and dry bulk declined in volume, despite the fact that LNG and biomass were two positive outliers within these product segments.
Overall, 350 million tonnes of cargo were handled, a decrease of 1.5 million tonnes compared to last year.
Containers
As for container throughput, it increased by 5.7% (in TEU) compared to the previous year. This led in a total volume of 10,780,204 TEU. August 2018 set a new record with 136,500 tonnes.
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Growth rates in the first nine months of 2018 differ from trade route to trade route: along the Asia-Europe trade lane, the volume of incoming loaded containers were up by 10%, while outbound volumes decreased by 7.6%. Overall throughput on the North American trade lane increased by almost 10%, and handling for the South American lane even rose by over 20%.
Liquid bulk
Liquid bulk throughput decreased by over 1%. Crude oil was affected by lower refinery production levels in Germany and Belgium, as well as downtime for maintenance at refining facilities in Rotterdam.
The throughput of mineral oil products handled in Rotterdam in the first nine months of 2018 was less by 1.5% compared to last year. This was mainly caused by the decreased handling of fuel oil. In contrast, other oil products like diesel and petrol showed an increase.
The volume of LNG handled in Rotterdam continued increasing, as September 2018 was a record month, with a total throughput of close to 0.8 million tonnes.
Dry bulk
Total dry bulk throughput reduced by 7.3% compared to the first three quarters of 2017. The strongest decrease was reported in the agribulk and iron ore segments. The total volume of agribulk handled was lower than last year, due to less inbound shipments from South America. In addition, lower wheat prices meant that Europeans consumed more locally produced wheat.
Ore intakes were also lower, as they fell almost 6% short compared to the same period last year. However, intake is expected to increase in the months ahead against the background of increased European steel production combined with low local ore reserves.
Coal throughput fell as well by 4.6%. The demand for fuel coal decreased because of a warm summer, the rising price of CO2 emission allowances and further growth in the renewable energy segment.
Breakbulk
Lastly, Roll on/Roll Off throughput volumes increased by 1.3%. There was no increase in trading volumes on ro/ro services to and from the UK due to the local economic downturn as a result of on-going uncertainty about Brexit.
On the contrary, the volume of cargo transported via ro/ro services to the Iberian Peninsula increased.
The volume of breakbulk handled in Rotterdam recorded its strongest decrease in the first quarter of 2018. Thus, volumes recorded until the end of September still were less by 6.5%. Nonetheless, by the third quarter the volumes had stabilised again.
