Almost one quarter of the freight discharged from containers in the port of Rotterdam originates from China. This emerges from figures published by Statistics Netherlands. The number of containers arriving from the world’s second-largest economy rose by 9% last year. This increase is continuing this year, according to Statistics Netherlands, despite the decline in the Chinese economy.
In the port of Rotterdam a total of 54 million tonnes of freight was discharged from containers in 2014. After China (12.2 million tonnes) come Singapore (3.2), the United States (3.0), the United Kingdom (2.8), Russia (2.2), Brazil (2.2), Ireland (2.0), Malaysia (1.7), Sweden (1.6) and Hong Kong.
The total volume of container freight is placed on the quays at Rotterdam in almost four million containers. This means the total number of containers has increased by more than 6% compared with 2013. The number of containers from China rose by 9% in 2014, forming one quarter of all containers that were discharged in Rotterdam.
The economic decline in China is not yet reflected in the number of Chinese containers handled in Rotterdam in the first quarter of 2015. Indeed, this number rose by almost 20% in the first quarter, while the total number of containers discharged in Rotterdam rose by 10%.
The freight in the containers arriving from China consists for nearly a quarter of machinery and equipment. Chemical products and textiles are also frequently imported in containers from China. Approximately 7% of the freight in containers is food. This category mainly includes fish, vegetables and fruit.