Tag: Port of Rotterdam

'We spend more money than we get in' It is scarcely a year ago that Paul Smits left telecommunications company KPN to become Chief Financial Officer at the Port of Rotterdam Authority. Last week, he put his signature to a 250 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB).How are you finding things in Rotterdam?Fantastic. In no other job have I had so much contact with the other people involved, from the business sector right up to the government. The nice thing is that, generally speaking, we have a positive image. That's something we must cherish and something in which we invest a lot.What is the Port Authority's rating, in financial terms?We don't have one because we don't issue bonds. If we did, we'd currently have a single A rating.Why not higher?Due to our massive level of investment. At the moment, we spend more money than we get in; our cash flow is negative. Sounds worrying, but it isn't. It involves ratios like the development of the relationship between our debt position and the long-term profit forecast and solvency. They are very sound.Why do you prefer to borrow from the EIB?Because financing long-term infrastructure projects is their core activity. ...

Development of Porto Central, a new port in Brazil The Port of Rotterdam Authority, the state of Espirito Santo, the municipality of Presidente Kennedy and project developer Terminal Presidente Kennedy (TPK) signed an agreement in Vitória, Brazil for the development of Porto Central, a new port in Brazil.The so-called 'greenfield port' still has to be built and will be located in the extreme south of Espirito Santo state, to the north of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It will be an industrial port on deep sea water for handling oil, gas, offshore services, dry bulk and general cargoThe intention is that the first ship will sail into the new port in a few years' time.2012 and 2013 will be used for approaching the market and obtaining the necessary permits. In the first phase, a start will be made on the construction of a 1,000-hectare industrial port.Joint ventureFor the development of Porto Central, the Port Authority is entering into a cooperation agreement with TPK, a group of Brazilian business people with experience in the mining and offshore industries. The Port Authority's main contribution will be its expertise and knowledge in the field of port management. This cooperation agreement will be ...

Expansion of the Maasgeul to prevent waiting times for ships entering the port The Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment is expanding the Maasgeul to prevent waiting times for ships entering the port of Rotterdam. This navigation channel to the North Sea is the access route for sea-going ships that have a draft of more than 14.3 metres. More and more of these ships come to Rotterdam because of the increase in scale and because the load factor of sea-going ships continues to grow.The Maasgeul is 6 miles long and currently 500 to 600 metres wide. It is being widened by another 240 metres so that by the summer of 2012, large sea-going ships will be able to pass each other.Harbour master René de Vries announced this during the presentation of the nautical annual figures for 2011. The lower number of ships - 33,681 sea-going ships compared with 34,404 in 2010 - with an increase in throughput (from 430 to 435 million tonnes) points to that increase in scale and more heavily laden container ships.The harbour master also explained that last year's bad weather - there was significantly more wind and storm than in 2010 - had an adverse effect ...

A labor dispute at APM Terminals in Rotterdam that has disrupted shipping A labor dispute at APM Terminals in Rotterdam that has disrupted shipping at one of Europe's largest container handling facilities for over a week shows no sign of an early end.Ocean carriers are mulling whether to bypass the terminal as the strike by around 700 workers is delaying the departure of ships by several hours. Vessels that do sail on time are leaving boxes on the docks. The industrial action, over a new wage contract, has ranged from six-hour walkouts to 10-minute stoppages every hour to do exercises.There is an "absolute stalemate" in talks between the company and the unions, said APM Terminals spokesman Cor Radings. No fresh talks are planned.APM, a unit of Denmark's A.P Moller-Maersk, offered a 5.5 percent wage increase over two years coupled with a jobs guarantee through 2015. But it has rejected union demands for the new contract to include compensation for workers affected by government pension reforms extending the national retirement age from 65 to 67.The disruption is causing a "lot of concern" for carriers who are now considering their short-term options, Radings said. The dispute is also damaging the APM Terminals ...

Chinese oil companies have shown interest for new oil terminal in Rotterdam port The proposal is at an initial stage and has yet to receive government approval before it can proceed. If it comes to fruition, it will be the first time that a European port has invested in China, according to the Rotterdam team."China is a very important market for us, and we intend to expand investments step by step," said Smits in an exclusive interview.He said a new oil terminal in Rotterdam port, which is still under construction, has drawn interest from Chinese petrochemical and oil companies.The terminal will allow companies to get oil from Russia and distribute it to China and other countries with a high demand for the commodity, Smits said, declining to disclose the companies' names."We expect more Chinese investment in Rotterdam port in the next few years," he added.In 2009, the Dutch port surpassed Hamburg to become the European port handling the largest amount of container cargo transported between China and Europe.One-third of the container cargo that now goes through it is being transported to or from China, and that figure is expected to increase, according to the port.At a time when the developed ...

But only 6 qualify on original criteria and only one of those has called at Rotterdam The Port of Rotterdam Authority (PRA) says it will reward the 25 "cleanest" ocean-going vessels arriving in the Port of Rotterdam in 2011 and 2012 with a discount on port dues even if they do not meet he port's original target.Last year the World Port Climate Initiative introduced the Environmental Ship Index (ESI), under the auspices of the International Association of Ports and Harbors, in London.PRA was co-initiator of this index and says it is working with this new international benchmark for ship air emissions and in this way awards points to those ships performing better than the statutory norm. The ESI was introduced on 1 January and, in addition to Dutch ports, the ports of Antwerp, Hamburg, Oslo, Kiel, Bremen and the Green Award Foundation are using ESI to reward clean ships.So far 375 seagoing ships have been recorded in the ESI. This means that they all score better than the statutory norm."However," a PRA statement says, "the score required in order to qualify for the discount, 31 points, appears to be on the high side for the time being. Only six ships ...

The leak is fixed Shipping traffic in Rotterdam port resumed before 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Thursday following a partial halt due to a gas leak at a liquefied natural gas terminal, a police spokesman told Reuters.Earlier on Thursday, shipping had been halted in the area of Maasvlakte, which represents around one fifth of the total port area due to gas cloud caused by the leak at GATE terminal."The leak is fixed," Rotterdam police spokesman said.The 800 million euro Gas Access to Europe (Gate) terminal, built by Gasunie and Koninklijke Vopak said in a statement that a white cloud was created when gas was released during work on one of the jetties."This cloud was caused by condensation of water vapor in the air in contact with the cold gas. This cloud contained no toxic substances and there is no danger," the statement said.Dutch day-ahead gas prices traded 0.30 euro higher on Thursday at 25.75 euros. Traders said if gas flows from the Gate terminal have been interrupted, prices could rise even more as gas unloaded from a Nigerian cargo three days ago is expected to enter the market."The news will probably lift prices a little, a tanker unloaded at Gate ...

Having a positive impact on the capacity of the port to handle rail freight A study to build a new railway yard in the outskirts of the Dutch city of Rotterdam has been selected by the EU for co-financing under the 2010 TEN-T Annual Calls with a grant of almost 1.5 million, Rail.co reports.The study will lead the way to the construction of the yard, which will have a positive impact on the capacity of the port to handle rail freight.The study financed by the European Union, relates to the design and procurement procedures necessary to increase the railway yard capacity of the port of Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe and starting point of Priority Project 24 (Railway axis Lyon/Genova-Basel-Duisburg-Rotterdam/Antwerpen).The subsequent implementation of the works will remove an important transport bottleneck and increase the share of intermodal rail freight traffic.It will also fill the capacity gaps on the hinterland rail freight corridor and trigger economic growth and development in Europe by ensuring a dynamic and efficient maritime and continental transport chain.The study is expected to be completed by May 2012.The studies are preparing the following railway components that will be added to the existent layout of Maasvlakte West, located ...

It will also encourage and speedup the growth of green energy development The latest green technology test facility of Plant One was opened in the Port of Rotterdam by Maxime Verhagen, Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I) of the Dutch Government.The new facility started due to the efforts of the Port of Rotterdam, Rotterdam Climate Initiative, TNO and Deltalings, will assist the growth of the laboratory stage products into pilot scale and then into full-scale manufacture. It will also encourage and speedup the growth of green energy development. The test facility is ready for operations after 18 months of receiving its grant and has started receiving pilot projects. Plant One is placed in a suitable location to perform a number of tests for the end users.Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I) opened Plant OneThe Netherlands Energy Research Center (ECN) has commenced one of its pilot installations at Plant One. The technology being developed by ECN known as HybSi membrane technology will provide a viable substitute for distillation used in the process industry. The technology deployed will make a difficult segregation process more convenient utilizing reduced level of energy and cost. It has ...