Port of Rotterdam emerges stronger from crisis

Announcing the figures, Hans Smits, Port of Rotterdam Authority CEO, said that imports increased by 12% to 306m tonnes, while exports rose by 9% to 124m tonnes. Overall, he described the results as “above expectations”.

Explaining that even though this year (2011) government cutbacks will be felt strongly throughout Europe, Smits said he was “cautiously optimistic” about throughput, which he expects to grow by 2% to 3% to reach around 440m tonnes.

As one of the most important cargoes for Rotterdam, container throughput reached 112m tonnes, an improvement of almost 12% in comparison with 2009. Growth in teu was back to “normal” up 14% to 11.1m teu.