Transhipment down 7 per cent in Port of Amsterdam
The seaports in the North Sea Canal Area, which includes the ports of Amsterdam, IJmuiden, Beverwijk and Zaanstad, show a transhipment of 48.4 million tonnes in the first half of 2016, which is a decrease of 5.4 per cent compared to the same period of 2015. Port of Amsterdam is the largest port in the region and saw its transhipment decrease by 7 per cent to 39.5 million tonnes (2015: 42.4 million tonnes). The decrease is primarily attributable to lower transhipment of coal.
Transhipment grew in IJmuiden to 8.5 million tonnes (+1.3%), decreased in Zaanstad to 123,000 tonnes (-38%) and increased in Beverwijk to 333,000 million tonnes (+148%).
The decrease in transhipment in Amsterdam is primarily attributable to the decrease in the transhipment of coal by 27 per cent to 7.1 million tonnes. Agribulk, including fertilizers, decreased by 1.2 per cent to 4.1 million tonnes. Other dry bulk rose with 5.2 per cent to 3.2 million tonnes. The transhipment of oil products decreased slightly by 1.6 per cent to 22.1 million tonnes. Other liquid bulk cargo rose by 11.7 per cent to 1.8 million tonnes.
The transhipment of containers rose by 11.4 per cent to 328,000 tonnes, while the transhipment of other mixed cargo, including RoRo, decreased from 1.1 million to 879,000 tonnes.
Imports in Port of Amsterdam decreased by more than 10 per cent to 24.1 million tonnes in the first half of 2016. Exports remained virtually unchanged in the first half of 2016 at 15.4 million tonnes compared to 15.5 million tonnes in 2015. The North Sea Canal Area also saw imports fall to 31.4 million tonnes (-7.6%) and exports decrease by 1 per cent. The number of ships that called at the North Sea Canal Area increased slightly (0.3%).
Koen Overtoom, Interim CEO of Port of Amsterdam: ‘There was a substantial decrease in coal transhipment in the first half of 2016. This is attributable to the declining demand for coal as the basis for generation of energy. We furthermore see energy companies keeping smaller stocks at the terminals. We expect total transhipment to stabilise in the second half of the year and consequently anticipate that it will probably end up at the same level as last year.”