Container throughput at the Port of Rotterdam continues to be impacted by the persisting war between Russia and Ukraine, leading to traffic loss due to the sanctions against the Kremlin.

Europe's busiest port said the throughput of containers was down 4.4% (in TEUs) and the decrease was 8.9% in terms of weight — with the difference between the two attributable to an increase in the number of empty containers.

Aside from the ongoing war, Port of Rotterdam said there's also the disruption of container logistics further dampening container volumes.

"There are two principal reasons for the decline in container throughput. The first is the loss of container traffic to and from Russia due to the sanctions, the uncertainty associated with the continuation of trade with Russian parties, and the discontinuation of scheduled services to Russia," Port of Rotterdam said.

"The second is the ongoing disruption of container logistics. Two years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic led to lockdowns and changes in consumption patterns," it added.

The port noted that due to this, container vessels were no longer able to comply with their sailing schedules, with disruptions in pre- and post-transportation as a result.

It added that to make up time, large vessels are now often cancelling calls to ports in their itineraries (-5.5% calls in Rotterdam by comparison with last year), and loading and unloading more containers per call (+6.1%).

"This results in peaks in activity at the terminals, which were already very busy since containers are left there for longer times on average because ship arrival times are more unreliable. As a result of these developments, shipping companies are currently using smaller ports of call for transshipment relatively more often than large ports such as Rotterdam," the major gateway further said.

Total throughput slightly up

Nonetheless, the Port of Rotterdam said total throughput at the port was slightly higher despite the declining trade with Russia.

The volume of total cargo throughput in the port of Rotterdam was 0.8% higher in the first half of the year (233.5 million tonnes) than in the same period in 2021 (231.6 million tonnes).

The port said in many segments, the war in Ukraine led to significant changes. For example, imports of both LNG and coal rose very sharply as an alternative to reduced European imports of Russian gas by pipeline.

The throughput of crude oil increased, with oil products falling off. Throughput of iron ore, agricultural bulk, and containers was lower than in the same period last year.

Container transport to and from Russia has also come to a halt, and persistent bottlenecks in global container logistics caused the cargo to shift from large to smaller container ports.

Port of Rotterdam said in anticipation of the sanctions on coal and oil, less Russian coal, crude oil, oil products, and LNG were imported in recent months and companies are increasingly importing from other countries.

Allard Castelein, CEO of Port of Rotterdam Authority noted that Europe relies heavily on Russian energy and the current geopolitical situation makes "Europe very vulnerable."

With this, concrete steps have been taken to make energy supply more sustainable and to further our energy independence.

Castelein said the business community has made a commitment in the last half year to invest € 3 billion in the energy transition.

Increased revenue at Port of Rotterdam

Nonetheless, the Port Authority at Rotterdam noted that the port had a good first half of the year financially.

It said revenue increased by 6.3% (€ 24.6 million) to € 412.2 million and operating expenses decreased by 2.4% (€ 3.1 million), mainly due to lower expenditure on sand extraction.

Vivienne de Leeuw, CFO Port of Rotterdam Authority, noted that the sound financial position of Rotterdam is essential to push forward projects in the port's pipeline.

"Our robust financial position is essential to continue investing in traditional hardware such as quay walls and jetties in the years ahead, but particularly in infrastructure for the energy transition. In addition, we are continuing to invest in digitalisation," de Leeuw said.

"By maintaining our position as a port with world-class infrastructure, we are ensuring that we remain an attractive location for companies to invest in the transition," the Port Rotterdam executive added.