16 BULKDISTRIBUTOR Ports & Storage
July/August 2020
Dekker grows in Rotterdam
Dekker Group is expanding in Port of Rotterdam. The
group, which specialises in storing liquid edible oils, fats
and biofuels in stainless steel tanks, recently extended its
long-term lease contracts on behalf of subsidiary Maastank
for its location at Welplaatkade in the Botlek area by 25 years.
Dekker also signed contracts for the adjacent sites at this point. In
due time, the firm, which has its headquarters in Ouderkerk a/d IJssel,
plans to scale up its existing tank storage.
Over the next few years, the present allocation will allow Dekker to
double the storage capacity of its tank terminal for vegetable oils,
oleochemicals and biofuels at Botlekhaven, to approximately 140,000
cbm. In addition, Dekker plans to expand the existing maritime
infrastructure.
Port of Rotterdam’s throughput was hit in the first quarter, thanks
to COVID-19 pandemic.
In the first three months, throughput amounted to 112.4 million
tonnes, 9.3 percent lower than in the first quarter of 2019. Falling
throughput was seen mainly in the coal, crude oil and oil products
segments. There was, however, a rise in iron ore, biomass, LNG and
other liquid bulk.
Oil products fell by 32.8 percent. There was a sharp fall in the
trading of fuel oil between Russia and Singapore, for which
Rotterdam has been the throughput location in recent years. Instead,
much of the fuel oil went directly from Russia to the United States for
refining. The throughput of diesel fuels also declined.
The incoming flow of crude oil fell by 8 percent in the past quarter.
Stocks built up last year were used for production in the past quarter.
However, LNG was up by 18 percent to more than 2 million tonnes
Over the next few years Dekker will be able to double the storage capacity
of its tank terminal for vegetable oils, oleochemicals and biofuels
with, in particular, more LNG going to the European gas network.
More gas was used for electricity production because of the low gas
price.
Throughput of other wet bulk rose by 710,000 tonnes (9.3 percent).
This consisted primarily of an increase in chemical products and
biodiesels. Rotterdam is increasingly becoming a central logistical
location in Europe for these products, with both imports and exports
to other European countries.
Sixin of the BEST
In June, Hutchison Ports’ Barcelona Europe South Terminal (BEST) welcomed the second
largest container vessel in the world.
MSC Sixin, operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company, has a capacity of 23,656 TEU, and is the
largest ship to berth at any terminal in Barcelona.
“The arrival of MSC Sixin at Barcelona is the start of a new era in our container sea trade,” said
Guillermo Belcastro, CEO of BEST. “MSC Sixin operating at BEST is symbolic of the effort of both
shipping lines and port operators who continue to work together, in spite of the current social and
economic world situation, pushing efficiency levels to even higher standards to enable goods to arrive at
their destination.”
Belcastro added that the terminal’s location and equipment enables it to handle vessels of this size in
the shortest time possible. BEST is the only container terminal in Barcelona with a depth of at least 16m
along the entire length of its 1,500m berth. In addition, container handling operations of almost 10,000
moves require a high number of mega cranes working at the same time with a very high operational
performance rate per crane. These operations also need to be controlled by a highly efficient operational
system.
BEST is used to operating with up to eight cranes simultaneously which under the control of nGen,
Hutchison Ports’ own terminal control system, can achieve productivities per crane of over 40 moves per
hour. Usually, operations of 10,000 moves can be completed in a couple of days, compared with four or
five days in other ports, the terminal operator said.