22 BULKDISTRIBUTOR
Ports
January/February 2016
Ports ride out the storm
Consumer goods traffic may be down at many ports but bulk traffic seems to be holding up well
F
reight throughput at Port of Rotterdam increased by 4.9
percent in 2015 to 466.4 million tonnes. This growth was
almost entirely attributable to increased throughput of crude
oil and oil products.
Allard Castelein, CEO Port of Rotterdam Authority, said low oil
prices resulted in high margins for the refineries, so they are seeing
large quantities of oil shipped in for refining.
“This not only applies to the refineries in Europe but also to those
in Russia,” he said. “The latter produce a relatively large amount of
fuel oil which is shipped to the Far East via Rotterdam. The result
was an 8 percent increase in the throughput of crude oil and an 18
percent rise in the throughput of oil products.”
Although last year the port owed its growth to oil, according to
Castelein the port is in a transition phase. “Due to the need to
combat climate change, the port is fully committed to energy
efficiency as well as the development of renewable energy and biobased chemistry. Rotterdam already has one of the most energy
efficient refining and chemicals clusters and the largest bio-based
cluster in the world. It is our ambition to retain our leading
position,” he added.
In addition to a substantial increase in the throughput of fuel oil,
more gas oil and diesel came into the port for the European market.
LNG handling rose by no less than 91.3 percent. However, in
absolute terms with 2.3 million tonnes, this segment is still small.
LNG prices in the Far East have fallen sharply and are now
comparable to those in Europe, which increases the trade and
shipping volume of gas in our region.
Other liquid bulk decreased by 0.5 percent to 30.8 million tonnes.
This is the sum of various types of cargo. The throughput of
chemical products, for instance, fell, while the throughput of palm
oil and biodiesel rose. In total, 10.9 percent more liquid bulk was
handled in Rotterdam. Since the total throughput comprises 48
percent liquid bulk, this sector largely determines the overall
throughput figures.
The handling of containers fell by 0.5 percent to 12.2 million TEU
and by 1.1 percent to 126.3 million tonnes. In the first half of the
year 6.2 million TEU was handled, the second half 6 million TEU.
Traffic to Asia - by far the largest trade flow throughout 2015 -
increased by 2 percent. Container transport to Latin and North
America fell. Within Europe, transport to the Iberian Peninsula and
Great Britain increased.
The strong performance in liquid bulk was reflected in tanker
traffic in and out of the port. In 2015, no fewer than 51 very large
crude carriers (VLCCs) discharged and/or loaded fuel oil in
Rotterdam. That is 22 more of these ‘giants’ (200,000-320,000 dwt)
than in 2014, and 12 more than in the record year of 2012.
Last year, a total of around 28.3 billion litres of fuel oil was shipped
from Rotterdam.
“The increase in the transport of fuel oil w as due to a slight growth
in its supply in the Northwest Europe region on the one hand,” said
Ronald Backers, business intelligence advisor for the port. “The
refineries here are operating at full capacity due to this year’s high
margins. In addition, Russia saw a large build-up of fuel oil stocks in
2014. At the beginning of 2015, this stock flowed in the direction of
Rotterdam and other ports.
With last year’s 51, a total of 283 VLCCs have called Rotterdam in
the past 10 years. Two thirds of these discharged crude oil before
leaving again with fuel oil. Says Backers: “75 percent of the loading
of the VLCCs takes place at the terminals in Rotterdam, 25 percent
at the Caland Canal and Maasvlakte 2 dolphins. There is often a
combination of both locations, with most of the loading taking place
at a terminal and the loading being completed at the dolphins.”
The average cargo volume of the mammoth tankers has also
increased over time by about 30,000 tonnes to 280,000 tonnes. A
record number of Suezmax tankers (120,000-160,000 dwt) called
the Dutch port. With a total of 45, this was four more than in 2014.
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Antwerp gets ready
Belgium’s largest port Antwerp is getting ready to build an LNG
bunker station for barges, with the concession agreement due to be
signed at the beginning of 2016.
The Rhine-Main-Danube LNG Master Plan was formally brought to
a close on 16 December 2015 in Rotterdam. Together with 32 other
partners from all over Europe port of Antwerp had contributed
towards the objective of making LNG a reality for barge transport, as
a clean fuel. This objective fell into two parts: to encourage barge
operators to use LNG as their fuel and to get barges to carry LNG to
inland waterway ports throughout the European hinterland so that it
can be available for industry and other modes of transport.
Antwerp has passed three important milestones on the way to the
imminent breakthrough use of the fuel.
The first truck-to-ship bunkering for barges was carried out in
December 2012. Since then barges have regularly bunkered
with LNG in the port at quay 526 which has been specially
equipped for this.
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Rotterdam also saw a sharp increase in kerosene (aviation fuel)
imports, 15 percent higher than the previous year. With around 3.75
billion litres, Rotterdam accounts for 14 percent of European
imports. The increase is due partly to the expected price rise, as a
result of which, a lot of aviation fuel was imported particularly
between July and September. The kerosene comes mainly from the
UAE, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.
A striking detail is that half of the vessels that carried the fuel to
Rotterdam were so-called Long Range 2 tankers. These vessels
displace 80,000-120,000 tonnes of water. The rest of the kerosene
arrived by LR3 or Suezmax vessels, seven LR1s (60,000-80,000
dwt), seven medium range vessels (45,000-60,000 dwt) and eight
smaller tankers.
In storage, Vopak Vlaardingen has become the first terminal in the
world to obtain the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
certification. The organisation was created 10 years ago, with the
aim of developing standards for sustainable palm oil production.
The RSPO hallmark guarantees that the palm oil originates from
certified plantations. To ensure that palm oil and palm oil products
are traceable after leaving these plantations, RSPO has established a
traceability standard (Supply Chain Standard). Companies can obtain
a supply chain certificate for this, showing that the palm oil and
palm oil products sold do indeed come from a certified plantation.
LNG is rapidly growing in the Benelux ports, and Rotterdam is
introducing an additional incentive to bunker LNG. The Port of
Rotterdam Authority has reserved a total of €1.5 million for this
incentive which will apply until 2020. Up until this time, seagoing
vessels that bunker LNG in Rotterdam can benefit from a 10 percent
discount on gross seaport dues.
Partner companies like Shell and Gate are explicitly promoting the
use of LNG. Shipping company Containerships has stated that it
will operate and bunker two LNG vessels in Rotterdam from 2017.
14/01/2016 17:06