Report of the Port Authority

Transcription

1 Report of the Port Authority

2 REPORT OF THE PORT AUTHORITY 1 Foreword by executive board 2 The port in brief 3 About the Port Authority 4 Customer 5 Area and space 6 Traffic and accessibility 7 Environment and sustainability 8 Harbour Master 9 Finance 10 Outlook for 2010 The port in brief Rotterdam, a world-class port Rotterdam is the largest logistic and industrial hub in Europe. The port and industrial complex stretches over a length of 40 kilometres and covers some 10,000 hectares (excluding Maasvlakte 2). With throughout of 387 million tonnes of goods in 2009, Rotterdam is by far the largest seaport in Europe. It enjoys this position thanks to its excellent accessibility from the sea, the hinterland connections and the many businesses and organisations active in and for the port and industrial area. Together they work on creating a world-class port. See a simplified flow chart of our port and industrial complex in the appendix. 12

3 Location and position of Rotterdam Throughput by segment 2009 Crude oil 24.9% Mineral Oil products incl. other liquid bulk 26.3% Dry Bulk 17.2% Containers 25.9% Breakbulk 5.7% Description The port and industrial area of Rotterdam is located directly on the North Sea, and is the only port in Northwest Europe which is directly accessible for ships with the deepest draughts. Furthermore, the port offers a huge diversity of activities: a wide range of market segments and goods flows as well as high-value and versatile facilities for the storage, transshipment and distribution of all kinds of raw materials and products. In addition, the (process) industry and chemical sector as well as other types of industry are strongly represented in Rotterdam. Industrial clusters which in themselves attract and retain cargo. With an extensive network of hinterland connections by inland shipping, feeder, short-sea, rail, road and pipeline, Rotterdam guarantees the throughput of goods to and from the European market - a market of some 350 million consumers. The immediate added value of the port and industrial area in Rotterdam is about 14.6 billion in About 90,000 jobs were directly related to the port complex in In addition, the port of Rotterdam generates about 56,000 indirect jobs. Goods segments The port of Rotterdam handles bulk cargo (dry and liquid bulk) and general cargo (containers and breakbulk). The figure shows the proportions of these types of cargo. In view of the relative volume of liquid bulk, this category is divided into crude oil and mineral oil products, including other liquid bulk. Dry bulk, containers and breakbulk are not subdivided further in the figure. Logistic hub The unique combination of industrial and logistics facilities makes Rotterdam the largest European port for the import of crude oil. This is also the case for the throughput of iron ore to the German blast furnaces in the Ruhr region. Moreover, the port has grown to become a major trading location in the global market for mineral oil products - partly due to the available capacity of independent tank storage. The construction of the first LNG terminal at Maasvlakte means that Rotterdam is now also developing as the distribution hub for gas transport for the Netherlands and Europe. It is developing the same position for itself as energy port. This is the result of the plans for building new power plants on Maasvlakte. In addition, Rotterdam has proved itself - even in these difficult economic times - to be the most important European gateway for container flows. Due to the increase in goods flows to and from secondary ports in Europe, the port has strengthened its position as the hub in the logistics network. The introduction of Ultra Large Container Carriers (ULCCs) for various container services on the Asia-Europe routes has also contributed to this development. Competition An increase in industrial activity is crucial to the development of the port. Rotterdam has to compete with other ports in the Hamburg-Le Havre (HLH) range to attract goods flows. All these ports serve the hinterland of Northwest Europe. Competition varies significantly from segment to segment. Antwerp and Hamburg are the main competitors for containers; for coal this is Amsterdam, and Le Havre and Wilhelmshaven are the main competitors for crude oil. 1 Added value and jobs derived from details for 2008 and 2009 not yet known In the chemicals sector, Rotterdam s competition is worldwide. Looking only at Northwest Europe, Antwerp is its most important competitor. Major competitive factors are a location on deep water, world-class terminals, the availability of space, good accessibility due to a variety of hinterland connections (road, water, rail, 13

4 pipeline), quality of service, costs, an attractive business climate and a pleasant living environment. Both chemical complexes, however, complement each other. The petrochemical complexes of Antwerp and Rotterdam are closely linked to each other by pipeline and inland waterway. Rotterdam, for example, supplies a large proportion of the raw materials for the petrochemical industry in Antwerp. Outlook for the medium term Global trade flows and value chains Industrial production in Northwest Europe is a major driving force for international goods flows. For our port, oil refining, the chemical, petrochemical and steel industry are particularly important. In the medium term (five years) the Port of Rotterdam Authority expects to see a change in the nature of industrial production. This will have a significant effect on goods flows: fewer imports of bulk goods such as iron ore and crude oil, and more imports of semi-finished products such as raw steel, mineral oil products, chemicals and semi-finished products in containers. The transport industry The Port of Rotterdam Authority expects the concentration and vertical integration of transport companies to continue. Especially road transport and forwarding are relatively fragmented sectors in which far-reaching consolidation can be expected. Global players will therefore become even more important customers of the port. Sustainable chains The importance of reducing CO 2 emissions is widely acknowledged, with the result that much attention is given to CO 2 emissions in transport, a sector that accounts for a substantial proportion of global CO 2 emissions. This affects the transport chain of shippers, ship speed, the structure of maritime networks and intermodal hinterland services. The Port Authority is playing a role in the transition towards more sustainable transport. International economy The worldwide economic crisis has caused a sharp downturn in trading volumes, and so the Port Authority expects there to be overcapacity in the container section during the next few years, which will lead to intense competition: between shipping companies, between cargo terminals and between the ports themselves. In the longer term, we are anticipating economic growth and the growth of trading and transport flows in Northwest Europe. In view of this outlook, the Port Authority is developing long-term scenarios and translating these into the best possible use of the port and industrial complex, being guided by our principal themes of Space for Growth, Accessibility and Sustainability. Port cooperation Government s vision In June 2009 the Government adopted and published the Economic vision of the long-term development of Mainport Rotterdam; towards a Mainport Network in the Netherlands, to which we also made our contribution. This Mainport vision also refers to the huge importance of the Rotterdam port and industrial complex for the Dutch economy, and presents quality as the source of its distinctive capacity. The Government s vision contains a detailed elaboration of action points, stating for each one what role the National Government, the Port Authority or other actors are to play. This explicit translation into separate agendas and actions is valuable because we need government support for many of these ambitions (port cooperation, the Traffic Management Company, CO 2 capture and storage, the new (western) cross-river connection). 14

5 Dutch port logistics network Recently there have been some notable developments in the area of port cooperation and network development, both on the part of the Government and within the port community. In its Mainport vision, the Government has decided to position Rotterdam as the central hub within the Dutch port logistics network. There is broad support in the House of Representatives for privatisation and cooperation between ports, as was clear from the debate on the Government s Mainport vision in September Within the port authorities of Amsterdam, Moerdijk and Zeeland too, decision-making is in progress on the privatisation issue. Finally, we are in discussions with the municipality of Dordrecht on the potential integration of operations and management of the seaport in Dordrecht. 15