The Port of Rotterdam Authority, the Port of Amsterdam Authority, PortBase, all partners including Customs as well as all the relevant municipalities are putting their efforts to prepare for a possible no-deal Brexit on Thursday, 31 October 2019, in attempts to mitigate any delays coming from additional customs formalities at Rotterdam en Vlaardingen ferry terminals.
In order for ships to enter the new lock in the Port of Amsterdam in a safe way, Jasper Coremans, Project Coordinator of OpenIJ, explains that works are being conducted on the west side of the new lock to realise a proper approach channel.
Transhipment in the North Sea Canal Area of the seaports of Amsterdam, IJmuiden, Beverwijk and Zaanstad increased during the first half of 2019 to 54.1 million tonnes, showing a growth of 7%. This was the result of a rise in transhipment in the first six months of this year in the port of Amsterdam by 12.3% to 45.4 million tonnes, which is another record.
Port of Amsterdam has become a partner in the European project H2Ships. This Interreg North-West Europe project focuses on establishing the essential conditions for a successful market introduction of hydrogen as a fuel for shipping. The project will receive approximately €3.5 million in grants from the Interreg North-West Europe Program (2019-2022).
The Port of Amsterdam received the first pile for the new industrial fire station, Joint Fire Brigade Amsterdam (GBA). GBA will boost fire safety in the port, while also increase business continuity. Also, it is capable of detecting the impact of changes in cargo flows and propose safety measures for the port’s efficient operation.
The Port of Amsterdam announced a pilot project deploying a sailing drone that inspects the depth of marginal ships at the locks of IJmuiden, in a bid to gain experience in new technologies in nautical processes. The experiment is underway this week, 8-13 July.
Europe’s first inland-waterway LNG bunker vessel conducted its first bunkering operations in the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp. The ‘LNG London’ vessel, owned by LNG Shipping – cooperation between Victrol and Sogestran, is on a long-term charter to Shell.
The inland terminals CTU in Lelystad, HOV Harlingen and Westerman Multimodal Logistics in Hasselt joined the North West Central Corridor in June. This partnership of deep-sea terminals, inland terminals and inland shipping companies on the Amsterdam-Utrecht-Rotterdam route was firstly launched in February 2019.
The Irish Port of Cork and the Dutch Port of Amsterdam signed a collaboration agreement in Cork, on 14 June, under which they will share their expertise and experience in a number of areas in order to promote trade between their ports.
Completion work is keeping up for the lock gates that arrived at the port of Amsterdam at the beginning of this year, the port announced. After completion, a testing period will be run at OpenIJ Logistics Centre in Amsterdam.
