The Port of Rotterdam saw record throughput in 2015 after tonnage increased 4.9% to more than 466 million, which is mainly due to the significant increase of crude oil and oil products.
Allard Castelein, CEO Port of Rotterdam Authority, said: “Low oil prices result in high margins for the refineries, so they have large quantities of oil shipped in for refining. This not only applies to the refineries in Europe but also to those in Russia.
“The latter produce a relatively large amount of fuel oil which is shipped to the Far East via Rotterdam. The result is an 8% increase in the throughput of crude oil and an 18% increase in the throughput of oil products.
“Due to the need to combat climate change, the port is fully committed to energy efficiency, as well as the development of renewable energy and bio-based chemistry. Rotterdam already has one of the most energy efficient refining and chemicals clusters and the largest bio-based cluster in the world. It is our ambition to retain our leading position.”
The throughput of crude oil increased by 8.1% to 103.1 million tonnes, the increase was driven by low oil prices.
Technical Paper: The Operational Philosophy of the Port of Rotterdam
The price of oil is currently at a 13-year low of less than $28 per barrel, which has been instigated by the recent lifting of trading barriers in Iran.
The handling of containers fell by 0.5% to 12.2 million TEU and by 1.1% to 126.3 million tonnes in 2015.
In H1, 2015, 6.2 million TEU was handled, with 6 million TEU handled in H2.
The volume of transport to Asia increased by 2%.
The strong British economy also played an important role in attracting roll on roll off (Ro/Ro) traffic over the North Sea.
Ro/Ro traffic increased by 10.1% to 22 million tonnes and other break bulk decreased by 5.5% to 5.7 million tonnes.