• Port of Rotterdam has released their end of year report, earning €227 million, €1 million less than 2012.
The Port of Rotterdam experienced a slightly poorer financial year after interest and depreciation increases affected results.
The loss has been put down primarily due to the €262.9 million investment in Maasvlakte 2 which massively affected interest rates and depreciation sites across the board.
Lease of land rose by €29.8 million to a total of €321.5 million, a staggering 10.2 percent more than the year before.
Allocation of new sites in Maasvlakte 2 and Europoort, alongside the purchase of sites in Botlek and the integration of the port of Dordrecht have all been put down as causes of the price jump.
Matters were made worse as port dues dropped below throughput, due to the additional 2 percent recovery rebate granted on port dues in 2013.
Port dues decreased by €4.7 million to a total of €302.6 million in 2013, 1.5 percent lower than that of 2012.
However there was some celebration to be had, as operating income rose by 4 percent to a total of €639.9 million, an increase of €24.6 million than the year before.
Asides from this, other costs were under control with Personnel expenses only rising 1 percent, and the result from participations reaching €9.4 million, 33 percent more than the previous year.
This positive result has been put down to successful participations in the port of Sohar, Oman.
Chief financial officer, Paul Smits (pictured right) had this to say of the result: “After years of rising profits, the result for the Port Authority dropped slightly this year. This is not unexpected.
“Our debts have run up to €1.2 billion due to the large investments in past years. That also means that our interest charges have increased substantially.
“Combined with the slightly lagging throughput, this provides for a minor drop in profit. We need that profit, so that we can continue to invest in the port and ease our debt position at the same time.
