On 12 February 2014 work started on the construction of a container crane for the Rotterdam-East Transferium adjacent to the River Noord in Alblasserdam. The crane is capable of loading and unloading two side-by-side ships. Depending on the growth in throughput, it is possible to add a second crane, the company said in its press release.
The terminal, constructed and operated by BCTN, is a container transferium where trucks and inland waterway vessels can deliver and pick up containers from and to the port of Rotterdam. This saves a 50-km trip to the Maasvlakte. According to BCTN, the trip back and forth, including handling at the terminal, easily takes three hours or an amount of 150 euros. The company itself expects to charge half that amount.
Starting next month, a daily service will sail between Rotterdam-East and the Maasvlakte. BCTN guarantees that a container delivered before a certain time will in turn be delivered the next day. The service will use standard 110-metre ships. BCTN will set up a depot for empty containers, so that they no longer have to be shipped to the Maasvlakte. The depot will also offer facilities, such as inspection, cleaning, repair, a gas measurement station.
For containers with an inland destination, transportation via inland waterway navigation requires further strengthening, so that road transportation does not need to increase as fast as the growth in container shipping.