In the first half of this year, freight traffic in the The port of Rotterdam was slightly down by -0.3% on the previous year. same period of 2023 having amounted to 220.0 million tons, a reduction that was generated in the first quarter having the traffic in the April-June period recorded an increase after seven consecutive quarters of decline. In the second trimester by 2024 the total volume of approximately 110 million tonnes, in fact, it marked an increase of +1% over the corresponding period produced by the +4% increase in loads at the time of loading, which amounted to 32 million tons, which has more than which offset the -1% contraction in goods at unloading amounted to about 78 million tons.

In the second quarter of this year, the total traffic of container was 34.6 million tons (+5%) and was has been achieved with a handling of containers equal to over 3.5 million TEUs (+3%). Other miscellaneous goods, on the other hand, fell of about -8%, with rolling stock totalling 6.5 million tons (-4%) and conventional goods 1.6 million tons (-20%).

In the dry bulk sector, the following have been handled globally 18.3 million tonnes (+9%), including 7.4 million tonnes tons of minerals and scrap (+9%), 4.6 million tons of coal (-8%), 2.3 million tonnes of agricultural products (-14%) and 4.0 million tonnes of other dry bulk (+76%).

Liquid bulk cargo marked a quarterly decline of -3% having amounted to almost 49 million tons, of which 23.1 million million tonnes of crude oil (-10%), 14.0 million tonnes of crude oil tons of refined petroleum products (+14.8%), 2.9 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (-2%) and 9.0 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas. tons of other liquid cargoes (-8%).

In the first half of 2024, only containerized traffic was amounted to 67.1 million tonnes (+4.2%) with a container handling of over 6.8 million TEUs (+2.2%).

"After a period of economic uncertainty - commented the CEO of the Port Authority of Rotterdam, Boudewijn Siemons - we see that the demand for materials and consumer products are starting to increase. This in the The first half of the year led to volume growth containers. If this trend continues in other segments, This will depend in part on the pace of recovery of European industry in the coming months'.

The Dutch port authority specified that the resumption of the containerized traffic, as well as being a direct consequence increase in demand for consumer goods, is also due to earlier than usual in the peak season as importers order their products earlier than usual at due to the longer navigation times and the variation of the ship planning which is a consequence of the situation crisis in the Red Sea, with ships avoiding the passage of the Suez Canal to travel the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope.

The Port Authority believes that the port will be able to operate the port of the port throughout the year of Rotterdam will see a slight increase in traffic overall given that, in addition to the increase in containerized loads in progress, the stocks accumulated in other product segments have and European industrial production seems to be recovering on the in the wake of falling energy prices.