Rotterdam Port says economic growth, bad weather have led to container backlog
The Port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest, said Tuesday that the company operating its main terminal has imposed restrictions on the return of empty shipping containers in order to head off a backlog problem before it becomes unmanageable.
The unusual move was taken by European Container Terminals BV — ultimately owned by Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. — because of a concurrence of problems including recent bad weather, short staffing and economic growth that is outpacing the speed at which the terminals can expand, Port spokesman Sjaak Poppe said.
Under the restrictions, which give priority to loaded incoming containers, empty containers will be denied access to the ECT terminal after 11 p.m. Tuesday night. ECT said the measures will likely be in place from two to four weeks.
Poppe said the measure was taken by ECT "to prevent the situation from deteriorating. The terminal is working at the edge of capacity, or over, and if we didn't act now the problems would become more serious."
He said Rotterdam is trying to grow capacity at 10 percent to 15 percent per year to keep up with demand, but in practice growth comes in fits and starts.
Last year, the port's throughput rose by 4.1 percent to 9.6 million TEU — the standard size shipping containers — with all that increase coming in the second half.
In a press statement, the Port's chief executive apologized for "unpleasant consequences in the rest of the supply chain" resulting from the measures.
But spokesman Poppe said he doubted the restrictions announced Tuesday would lead directly to customers shifting to competing ports like Antwerp in the near future. He said all ports are benefiting from global economic growth.
"The whole of northwest Europe is having trouble building capacity to keep up with demand for transport, due to complicated spacial planning and other regulations and rules," he said.
"Europe is growing more rapidly, you see that in consumption, and people are spending more money on things from China, India, South America ... they want goods that come from overseas."
He noted the immediate problems in Rotterdam had been compounded by smaller ports putting restrictions on the return of empty containers, notably Hamburg, Germany, and Southampton, England.
The unusual move was taken by European Container Terminals BV — ultimately owned by Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. — because of a concurrence of problems including recent bad weather, short staffing and economic growth that is outpacing the speed at which the terminals can expand, Port spokesman Sjaak Poppe said.
Under the restrictions, which give priority to loaded incoming containers, empty containers will be denied access to the ECT terminal after 11 p.m. Tuesday night. ECT said the measures will likely be in place from two to four weeks.
Poppe said the measure was taken by ECT "to prevent the situation from deteriorating. The terminal is working at the edge of capacity, or over, and if we didn't act now the problems would become more serious."
He said Rotterdam is trying to grow capacity at 10 percent to 15 percent per year to keep up with demand, but in practice growth comes in fits and starts.
Last year, the port's throughput rose by 4.1 percent to 9.6 million TEU — the standard size shipping containers — with all that increase coming in the second half.
In a press statement, the Port's chief executive apologized for "unpleasant consequences in the rest of the supply chain" resulting from the measures.
But spokesman Poppe said he doubted the restrictions announced Tuesday would lead directly to customers shifting to competing ports like Antwerp in the near future. He said all ports are benefiting from global economic growth.
"The whole of northwest Europe is having trouble building capacity to keep up with demand for transport, due to complicated spacial planning and other regulations and rules," he said.
"Europe is growing more rapidly, you see that in consumption, and people are spending more money on things from China, India, South America ... they want goods that come from overseas."
He noted the immediate problems in Rotterdam had been compounded by smaller ports putting restrictions on the return of empty containers, notably Hamburg, Germany, and Southampton, England.
