Port of Rotterdam docking queues triple in a year

04 April 2008 16:24  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Queues to dock at the southern part of Rotterdam have tripled over the last year, said a spokesman for the port on Friday, leading the authority to look at plans for a new terminal.

 

Congestion has caused problems in the key northwest Europe chemical hub with unloading of products taking time, barges being held up and storage space at a premium, buyers and a seller said.

 

Plans for the new dry bulk terminal to be established by the second half of 2010 were presented to logistics providers this week and the authority is in negotiations with Van Uden Stevedoring of the Netherlands over the operation of the terminal.

 

The proposed new terminal will have a surface area of 12 hectares and will have 600 metres of quays, the port authority said in a statement.

 

Barge congestion at the port is not as bad as it was last year, said the port spokesman.

 

“The throughput of Rotterdam is 407m tonnes a year - much higher than we predicted 15 years ago,” he said.

 

A spokesman for tank storage operator Royal Vopak said for the last couple of years the company had been fully booked and had to expand to keep up with demand.

 

“We are looking at more expansion,” he said.

 

Sellers retaining products due to market volatility had also contributed to congestion and tight storage, market players said.

By: Lucy Craymer
+44 20 8652 3214

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