Port of Rotterdam throughput down 10.8% to 94 million tonnes in Q1
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Throughput in the port of Rotterdam has fallen sharply. In the first quarter of this year, 94 million tonnes of goods were handled, 10.8% down on the same period of 2008. The declining throughput involves most types of goods: iron ore and scrap (-50%), agribulk (-4%), other dry bulk (-29%), crude oil (-4%), other liquid bulk (-17%), containers (-18%), roll on/roll off (-13%) and other mixed cargo (-24%). Coal (+24%) and mineral oil products (+13%) managed to escape the slump by quite a margin.
Hans Smits, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority: "The decline in throughput is considerable, but is in line with the picture I outlined in December of a poor first six months. Despite some rays of hope, the problems – for example in container shipping - continue to dominate for the time being. The recovery will therefore begin a little later than originally anticipated. We foresee a decline in throughput over the year as a whole of between -6 and -10%".
Dry bulk
The very sharp fall in imports of iron ore, to 5.3 million tonnes, is the result of the collapsed demand for steel, combined with large stocks of ore at the terminals. As blast furnaces have also been shut down, positive trends in demand for steel and ore prices are only having a very slow impact on ore imports. This also applies to throughput of scrap.
Throughput of coke coal parallels that of ore. The demand for coal for energy production actually increased sharply due to the relatively harsh winter and the structural increase in demand from Germany. As a result, throughput rose by almost a quarter, to 6.3 million tonnes.
The handling of other dry bulk (minerals, building materials, biomass) suffered from the sharp decline in activity in the chemical, metal and construction industry: -29% to 2.1 million tonnes.
In the first quarter, throughput of agribulk was still down, by -4% to 2.3 million tonnes, due to the good European harvest in the 2008/2009 season. From the third quarter onwards, the new harvest will be decisive.
Liquid bulk
Imports of crude oil fell a little less than people anticipated on the basis of the economic trend. Speculating on future price increases, they continued to fill up the storage tanks and even used tankers for temporary storage. As a result, the quarterly figures fell to a limited degree, by 4% to 24.9 million tonnes.
The structural regional surpluses and shortages, combined with a strong "contango" (high prices in the future in comparison with the short term), had a positive impact on throughput of mineral oil products. Despite the fall in demand, less goods and passenger transport, for end products, throughput continued to grow: +13% to 16.8 million tonnes.
Other liquid bulk (chemical basic products, vegetable oils and fats, fruit juices), fell by 17% to 7.6 million tonnes. Within the sector, chemical basic products are by far the most important and the chemical industry has been hit hard by a fall in demand.
General cargo
Container throughput fell by 18% to 22 million tonnes. In (20-foot units) the decline was 16%, to 2.3 million TEU’s. There was no evidence of positive trends in any particular trade. For the rest of the year too, prospects are poor in terms of volume. In addition to this, container shipping is wrestling with overcapacity and is faced with the challenge of jacking up extremely low freight tariffs.
Roll on/roll off traffic is suffering heavily from the unprecedented decline in the British economy and the increased value of the euro against the pound. The quantity of goods transported fell by 13%, to 4 million tonnes.
The 25% decline in throughput of other general cargo to 1.4 million tonnes was caused by the falling demand for steel, which accounts for about half of the mixed cargo throughput, and metals. The handling of fruit is a little less sensitive to economic trends, but is subject to structural pressure due to continued containerisation. Paper/pulp throughput is declining because fewer advertisements mean thinner newspapers and magazines.
Appendix: Throughput figures Rotterdam first quarter 2008 and 2009 and the percentage difference.
Hans Smits, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority: "The decline in throughput is considerable, but is in line with the picture I outlined in December of a poor first six months. Despite some rays of hope, the problems – for example in container shipping - continue to dominate for the time being. The recovery will therefore begin a little later than originally anticipated. We foresee a decline in throughput over the year as a whole of between -6 and -10%".
Dry bulk
The very sharp fall in imports of iron ore, to 5.3 million tonnes, is the result of the collapsed demand for steel, combined with large stocks of ore at the terminals. As blast furnaces have also been shut down, positive trends in demand for steel and ore prices are only having a very slow impact on ore imports. This also applies to throughput of scrap.
Throughput of coke coal parallels that of ore. The demand for coal for energy production actually increased sharply due to the relatively harsh winter and the structural increase in demand from Germany. As a result, throughput rose by almost a quarter, to 6.3 million tonnes.
The handling of other dry bulk (minerals, building materials, biomass) suffered from the sharp decline in activity in the chemical, metal and construction industry: -29% to 2.1 million tonnes.
In the first quarter, throughput of agribulk was still down, by -4% to 2.3 million tonnes, due to the good European harvest in the 2008/2009 season. From the third quarter onwards, the new harvest will be decisive.
Liquid bulk
Imports of crude oil fell a little less than people anticipated on the basis of the economic trend. Speculating on future price increases, they continued to fill up the storage tanks and even used tankers for temporary storage. As a result, the quarterly figures fell to a limited degree, by 4% to 24.9 million tonnes.
The structural regional surpluses and shortages, combined with a strong "contango" (high prices in the future in comparison with the short term), had a positive impact on throughput of mineral oil products. Despite the fall in demand, less goods and passenger transport, for end products, throughput continued to grow: +13% to 16.8 million tonnes.
Other liquid bulk (chemical basic products, vegetable oils and fats, fruit juices), fell by 17% to 7.6 million tonnes. Within the sector, chemical basic products are by far the most important and the chemical industry has been hit hard by a fall in demand.
General cargo
Container throughput fell by 18% to 22 million tonnes. In (20-foot units) the decline was 16%, to 2.3 million TEU’s. There was no evidence of positive trends in any particular trade. For the rest of the year too, prospects are poor in terms of volume. In addition to this, container shipping is wrestling with overcapacity and is faced with the challenge of jacking up extremely low freight tariffs.
Roll on/roll off traffic is suffering heavily from the unprecedented decline in the British economy and the increased value of the euro against the pound. The quantity of goods transported fell by 13%, to 4 million tonnes.
The 25% decline in throughput of other general cargo to 1.4 million tonnes was caused by the falling demand for steel, which accounts for about half of the mixed cargo throughput, and metals. The handling of fruit is a little less sensitive to economic trends, but is subject to structural pressure due to continued containerisation. Paper/pulp throughput is declining because fewer advertisements mean thinner newspapers and magazines.
Appendix: Throughput figures Rotterdam first quarter 2008 and 2009 and the percentage difference.