74% of EU trade goes by ship
Image Credit: Europa / ESPO, European Port Performance Dashboard, 2012
Ports are gateways to the EU’s entire transport network. They are engines of economic development and sources of prosperity. More cargo, cruise ships and ferries in our ports mean more jobs.
Europe has three ports in the list of the wordl’s 15 biggest ports: Rotterdam is the 11th biggest container port, Hamburg 14th, closely followed by Antwerp in 15th place.
74% of EU trade goes by ship. Ports in Europe are directly connected to 848 ports in the Far East and 629 in Central and South America.
37% of the total intra- EU exchange of goods (in tonne-km) goes through the EU’s ports. Ports in the Mediterannean Sea handle the greatet amount of maritime trade exchanges between coastal regions in the EU, up to 28.4% of the freight volumes in tonnes.
There are more than 17 million container units in the global container fleet. Projected increases in size for 2014 show the number of containers has more than quadrupled over the last 20 years.
In 2012 some ships will have a capacity of 18,000 TEU. This is equivalent of a continuous lane of heavy goods vehicles from Paris to Rotterdam.
Through its “Motorways of the Seas” programme, the EU is investing in the ports and facilities that act as links in a Europe- wide transport network. Travelling from Gijon to Gothenburg by sea is 736 kilometres shorter than by land and reduces the resulting CO2 and other emissions produced.
The total quantity of freght handled in EU ports in 2010 was 3,641 million tones. North Sea core ports dominated, with a relatively low share of freight being handled in ports along the Black Sea or in the outermost regions.
An increase of one million tonnes passing through a port will give rise to an average of 300 more jobs. By 2030 there will be 15% more jobs.
20% of traffic in the EU is handled by only 3 ports. By 2030 traffic is predicted to rise by 50%
In 2012, 396 million people, more that three quarters of the EU popoulation, took to the seas as passengers on ferries and cruise ships.
Above data have been illustrated in infographics prepared by EC Mobility and Transport (Source : EMSA)