Netherlands shows continued growth in short sea by 0,72%
Short sea traffic in Dutch ports continues to grow, according to the Shortsea Promotion Centre Holland. This conclusion is based on the throughput figures for 2005, which the centre presented last week. However, last year’s increase was only modest: total short sea throughput in Dutch ports rose by 0.72%, from 269.1 to 271 million tonnes. A year earlier, the short sea sector in the Netherlands increased by almost seventeen million tonnes, or 11%.
Ingrid van Gelderen from the Promotion Centre points out that, for a decade now, the Dutch short sea sector has been experiencing a pattern whereby a year of high growth is followed invariably by one of stagnation. She doesn't dare to give an explanation for this trend. Van Gelderen is counting on 2006 being a growth year, but does not know yet if the trend will continue, and therefore produce a high growth percentage again. The disappointing increase last year had an impact on the relationship between short sea and deep sea transshipment in the Dutch ports. Whilst short sea earlier enjoyed a 58% share in total throughput, this was ‘fifty-fifty’ last year, according to the centre. The stagnation experienced last year was largely attributable to ro/ro traffic, which fell by 29%. On the other hand, short sea containers did very well, with a 21% increase in throughput figures, to almost 37.6 million tonnes. There was a slight fall in the transshipment of liquid cargo, such as oil, whilst throughput figures for general cargo showed a substantial increase.Great Britain remains by far the most important short sea destination. It generates 25.3% of the short sea throughput in Dutch ports. Other major destinations are Russia (16.2%), Norway (11.4%), Egypt (10%) and France (4.6%). Great Britain, Ireland, Russia, Spain and Portugal are the main destinations for containers.
