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Rotterdam consolidates its position as Europe's leading container port

THE port of Rotterdam's container throughput rose by 9.3 per cent in the first half of the year to 6.7 million TEU, sealing its position as Europe's top container port after several years of sluggish growth that saw its close competitors, especially second-ranked Antwerp, steadily narrowing the gap.

Rotterdam's revival was attributed to the decision by the three shipping alliances - 2M, THE Alliance and Ocean Alliance - to focus their transshipment operations at the Dutch port.

"Rotterdam has been frequently included in the (alliance) schedules as the first or last port of call because vessels can arrive or leave here fully laden, which is not always the case in other ports," the port authority was cited as saying in a report by IHS Media.

"Given its location on the coastline and excellent infrastructure, Rotterdam is more easily accessible for the largest vessels than other ports," the port authority added.

This is reflected in a 23 per cent jump in transshipment traffic in the first half of the year as an increasing volume of deep-sea containers are being shipped between Rotterdam and smaller European ports.

The growth in first-half traffic, a sharp contrast to the 1.2 per cent increase in 2016, has driven up Rotterdam's share of the fiercely competitive Le Havre-Hamburg container market by two per cent to a 15-year high of 30.9 per cent from 29 per cent a year ago.

Antwerp, by contrast, has suddenly slowed down, with traffic edging up 1.9 per cent in the first half to 5.2 million TEU, ending a long run of strong growth that peaked with last year's four per cent increase, which pushed the Belgian port above 10 million TEU for the first time.

While Antwerp has slipped further behind Rotterdam, it has widened the lead over Hamburg, which it ousted as Europe's second-largest container hub a few years ago after the German port's growth slowed and then decreased.