The Port of Rotterdam handled 186 million tonnes of cargo in the first half of 2006, 1.1% more than in the corresponding period of 2005. Outgoing trade grew at a rate of 2.6%, while incoming trade rose by 0.7%. Container throughput was 4.7m teu, up 2%.

Rotterdam shows modest H1 cargo increase

The 1.7% growth in general cargo recorded by the port was almost twice that of bulk, at 0.9%. There were increases in throughput for coal (+6%), liquid bulk (+13%) and mineral oil products (+7%), although the figures were down for agribulk, ores and scrap, crude oil, ro-ro and other dry bulk.

Hans Smit, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, said: “We got off to a slow start this year. The first quarter was rather meagre, but then things picked up…. In the second half of the year the recovery process will continue. As a result, annual throughput figures could be up by 2% on last year.”