Last Thursday Joost Eenhuizen and Anita van der Laan of the Port of Rotterdam arrived in Singapore and organized in combination with Suzanne Sweerman and Adeline Tan of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency a Maritime & Offshore
Photo top : Piet Sinke
During the seminar the visitors were well informed by Gene Kwee of Mazars about the attractive scheme of the Dutch Tax regime when opening a branch or subsidiary in The Netherlands. Joost Eenhuizen informed the guests about the possibilities for foreign companies in and around the port of Rotterdam and the recent developments, such as the Maasvlakte II extension.
The Port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe with nearly 450 million ton cargo handled last year. From 1962 until 2002 it was the world's busiest port, now overtaken by first Singapore and then Shanghai and in 2013 by Ningbo & Zhousan in China which Chinese port handeld 800 million tons during 2013.
In 2012 Rotterdam was the world's eight-largest port in terms of annual cargo tonnage Covering 105 square kilometres (41 sq mi), the port of Rotterdam now stretches over a distance of 42 kilometres. It consists of the city centre's historic harbor area, including Delfshaven; the Maashaven/Rijnhaven/Feijenoord complex; the harbours around Nieuw-Mathenesse; Waalhaven; Vondelingenplaat; Eemhaven; Botlek; Europoort, situated along the Calandkanaal, Nieuwe Waterweg and Scheur (the latter two being continuations of the Nieuwe Maas); and the reclaimed Maasvlakte area, which projects into the North Sea.
Rotterdam consists of five distinct port areas and three distribution parks that facilitate the needs of a hinterland with 40,000,000 consumers. The port of Rotterdam which is still the largest port in Europe with nearly 450 million ton cargo handling last year has a long history, stretching back into the 14th-century. As the city of Rotterdam has developed from a small town into a major harbour city, the port has expanded. In earlier centuries, docks were built on the banks of the Nieuwe Maas river.
In the 19th century, connections between Rotterdam and the North Sea were poor, with a large estuary/delta area with many small waterways between them. Ships had to sail around the island of Voorne-Putten to go out to sea. This could take several days or even weeks. In the first half of the 20th century the port activities moved from the centre westward towards the North Sea.
To improve the connection to the North Sea, the Nieuwe Waterweg ("New Waterway"), a large canal, was designed to connect the Rhine and Maas rivers to the sea. The Nieuwe Waterweg was designed to be partly dug, then to further deepen the canal bed by the natural flow of the water. Ultimately however, the last part had to be dug by manual labour also.
Nevertheless, Rotterdam from then on had a direct connection between the sea and harbour areas with sufficient depth. The Nieuwe Waterweg has since been deepened several times. The Nieuwe Waterweg was ready in 1872 and all sorts of industrial activity formed on the banks of this canal.Over the years the port was further developed seaward by building new docks and harbour-basins. Rotterdam's harbour territory has been enlarged by the construction of the Europoort (gate to Europe) complex along the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg. In the 1970s the port was extended into the sea at the south side of the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg by completion of the Maasvlakte which was built in the North Sea near Hoek van Holland.
In the past five years the industrialised skyline has been changed by the addition of large numbers of wind turbines taking advantage of the exposed coastal conditions. The construction of a second Maasvlakte received initial political approval in 2004, but was stopped by the Raad van State (the Dutch Council of State, which advises the government and parliament on legislation and governance) in 2005, because the plans did not take enough account of environmental issues. On 10 October 2006, however, approval was acquired to start construction in 2008, and the first ships arrived in 2014.
Most important for the port of Rotterdam are the petrochemical industry and general cargo transshipment handlings. The harbour functions as an important transit point for transport of bulk and other goods between the European continent and other parts of the world.
From Rotterdam goods are transported by ship, river barge, train or road. The Betuweroute, a fast cargo railway from Rotterdam to Germany, is constructed. The Dutch part of this railway opened in 2007.
Large oil refineries are located west of the city. The river Maas and Rhine also provide excellent access to the hinterland. Much of the container loading and stacking in the port is handled by autonomous robotic cranes and computer controlled chariots. The ECT pioneered the development of terminal automation. At the Delta terminal, the chariots—or automated guided vehicles (AGV)—are unmanned and each carry one container.
The chariots navigate their own way around the terminal with the help of a magnetic grid built into the terminal tarmac. Once a container is loaded onto an AGV, it is identified by infra-red "eyes" and delivered to its designated place within the terminal. This terminal is also named "the ghost terminal". Unmanned Automated Stacking Cranes (ASC) take containers to/from the AGVs and store them in the stacking yard.
The newer Euromax terminal implements an evolution of this design that eliminates the use of Straddle Carriers for the land-side operations.
The EECV-quay of the port has a draft of 24 metres (78 feet), ( Above: The VALE RIO DE JANEIRO arriving at the EECV terminal Photo : Hans van der Linden www.aerolin.nl @AerolinPhotoBV © ) making it, along with the Terminal of Ponta da Madeira in Brazil and the port of Sohar in Oman.
One of the available mooring locations for the largest bulk cargo ship in the world, the iron ore bulk carrier MS Berge Stahl when it is fully loaded has a draft of 23 meters (75 feet) leaves only 1 metre (3 feet) of under keel clearance, therefore it can only dock in a restricted tidal window. Such ships must travel in the special deep dredged Eurogeul when approaching the port.
Rotterdam provides offshore related companies with the chance to be part of the state-of-the-art offshore cluster. Large-scale projects like the above seen "PIETER SCHELTE" or long term commitments are most welcome in the Port of Rotterdam.
Rotterdam also offers amazing settlement opportunities, contact the offshore team for more information please send e-mail to : offshore@portofrotterdam.com
Above : Last Friday evening The 29th anniversary gala dinner of the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) was held in the Giant Ballroom of the Marina Bay Sands convention center where an excellent Dinner was served for over 2000 persons a record turnout surpassing its 25th anniversary at the same venue in 2010.
The dinner was including “on stage” entertainment for the participants. Joost & Anita hosted the PORT OF ROTTERDAM table as above seen with some guest top left : Capt Piet Sinke of Maasmond Maritime and Guus de Vries, the Regional Manager of Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors bv, the second row seen Marjan Lacet of NMT, in the middle Adeline Tan of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency and right Tany Tay the Senior General Manager of ECOSPEC in Singapore. SOURCE: DMNC