Rotterdam more accessible

Currently up to 600 m wide, the channel is to be widened by another 240 m by the summer of 2012, enabling large sea-going ships to pass each other. Announcing the expansion plans, Harbour master René de Vries said that although 33,681 sea-going ships entered the port in 2011 compared to 34,404 in 2010, there was an increase in throughput from 430m to 435m tonnes, which points to more heavily laden container ships.

He explained that last year’s bad weather, there was significantly more wind and storm than in 2010, had an adverse effect on the nautical figures at the port. The number of serious accidents (16 compared to 15 in 2010) remained close to the same but there were more bodywork damage (131 compared to 116).

“If you are talking about 16 accidents for close on one million ship movements, then the port is still extremely safe,” said de Vries.