Liquid bulk falls at Port of Rotterdam
With an increase in throughput of 3.9%, the Port of Rotterdam can look back on a good first half year. There was growth in eight of the ten market segments the port serves, with volumes of mineral oil products and liquid bulk falling.
The volume of crude oil went up by 9.0%, reaching a record high of 54.9 million tonnes. This development was due to the low oil price, which allows the refineries to operate with large margins. The utilisation rates were therefore high during the past six months, both at the Rotterdam refineries and in Germany, Antwerp and Vlissingen, which receive their supplies of crude oil from Rotterdam.
The throughput of mineral oil products fell by 8.5%, almost entirely as a result of a sharp decline in the amount of Russian fuel oil. Russia has introduced a tax on the export of fuel oil that encourages the refineries to modernise and therefore to produce less fuel oil. Just over a quarter of the volume of mineral oil products currently consists of Russian fuel oil, which is often exported via Rotterdam to Singapore.
The volume of LNG increased by 2.0%. The category of other liquid bulk declined by 11.7%. This was the outcome of a number of different developments, such as a fall in chemical products and a rise in biofuels.
Major investments are now being made in the liquid bulk market segment in Rotterdam. ExxonMobil, Shell and Gunvor are together putting about €2bn into the modernisation of their refineries. Several tank terminals are increasing or modernising their capacity. A new development this half year was the announcement by HES International that it will be building a tanker terminal on the Hartelstrook, with BP as a major customer.
The location will be home to 52 tanks with a combined capacity of approximately 1.3 million m3. The Port of Rotterdam Authority will be building a quay measuring 1,100 metres here for seagoing vessels. There will be nine berths in the Hudson harbour for inland shipping.
For more information visit www.portofrotterdam.com
7th Aug 2017
