Port of Rotterdam

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The Waalhaven by night

Europe Container Terminals

The port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe. Since 2004 Asian ports like Singapore and Shanghai have taken over its world-leading position. In 2004 Rotterdam was the seventh-largest port in the world in terms of containers (TEU) handled.

Most important for the port of Rotterdam are the petrochemical industry and general cargo transhipment handlings. The harbour functions as an important transit point for transport of bulk and other goods between the European continent and other parts of the world. From Rotterdam goods are transported by ship, river barge, train or road. Since 2000 the Betuweroute, a fast cargo railway from Rotterdam to Germany, has been under construction. Large oil refineries are located west of the city. The rivers Meuse and Rhine also provide excellent access to the hinterland.

In the first half of the twentieth century the port activities moved from the centre towards the North Sea. The Nieuwe Waterweg was dug from Rotterdam to the North Sea, a canal to disembogue the shallow Rhine and Meuse. The Nieuwe Waterweg was ready in 1872 and all sorts of industrial activity formed on the banks of this canal.

Rotterdam's harbour territory has been enlarged by the construction of the Europoort (gate to Europe) complex along the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg, and by the Maasvlakte in the North Sea near Hoek van Holland. The lay-out of a second Maasvlakte was the subject of political debate in the 1990s, because it would be partly government-financed. Construction started in the summer of 2004 [press release], PDF in Dutch.

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