The volume of total cargo throughput in the port of Rotterdam was 5.5% lower in the first half of the year than in the same period in 2022. The fall was mainly seen in coal throughput, containers and other dry bulk. Throughput in the agribulk, iron ore & scrap, and LNG segments increased.
In the first half of the year, the agreements were signed for the expansion at the container terminals in the Prinses Amaliahaven. This expansion will, in time, result in a potential flow of some 4 million TEUs. The Port Authority’s robust financial results put it in a position to continue investing in the transition to cleaner energy and in good accessibility.
Boudewijn Siemons, interim CEO and COO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority: “Despite economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions, major advances were made in the first half year in the construction and issuance of new land and quay walls to make room for, among other things, the production and imports of green hydrogen and additional capacity in the container segment. An important step was made with the issuance of the land in the Prinses Amaliahaven to APM Terminals and RWG. We want to provide our customers with the necessary space and facilities in good time so that they can continue to operate and grow in a sustainable way.”
Finances of the Port of Rotterdam Authority
The Port of Rotterdam Authority’s financial results were robust in the first half year of 2023. Revenue, mainly from port dues, and rental and leasehold income, was € 4.3 million higher than in the first half of 2022 at € 416.5 million. Operating expenses rose by € 10.2 million to € 134.6 million. As a result, earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation fell by € 5.9 million to € 281.9 million. The net result was down € 26.1 million at € 116.5 million due to two one-off items. In the first half of the year, due to the ruling of the Council of State relating to the 25-kilometre restriction, the acquired nitrogen rights (€ 8.0 million) and a Porthos guarantee premium (€ 7.3 million) were written off, with a negative result for participating interests as a result.
Gross investments in the first half of 2023 amounted to € 135.7 million, including capital injections in participating interests (first half of 2022: € 117.1 million). The main investment in the first half of 2023 was the construction of the Prinses Amaliahaven quay wall (€ 38.3 million).
Dry bulk
Throughput in the dry bulk segment fell by 11.7% in the first half year. Coal throughput fell 14.5% to 12.4 million tonnes, primarily because of low demand for energy coal for power production. In both the Netherlands and Germany, the main destination for coal, renewable sources such as wind and solar were used more for power production in the past half year. Throughput in the iron ore & scrap segment was 8.9% higher at 13.0 million tonnes despite low demand for iron ore from the steel mills in Rotterdam’s hinterland.
However, exports of scrap metal increased. Most scrap metal goes to Turkey, where steel production resumed quickly after the earthquake in February. The striking fall of 62.8% in the other dry bulk segment is linked to the 54.6% increase in the agribulk segment associated with the correction of an erroneous declaration in the sea port dues system in 2022, with the volumes in the other dry bulk segment being incorrectly declared as agribulk. Taking this correction into account, the increase in the agribulk segment was 8.5%, mainly due to growth in oil seeds from South America. After correction, there was also a decrease in the other dry bulk segment, primarily as a consequence of the decline in energy-intensive production, such as steel and aluminium, due to high energy prices.
Liquid bulk
In the first half of the year, the throughput of liquid bulk fell by 0.6%. The throughput of crude oil was 1.4% lower at 51.8 million tonnes. Incoming Russian oil has now been completely replaced by crude oil from the United States, Norway, West Africa and the Middle East. The throughput of mineral oil products was 1.9% lower in the first half year at 6.2 million tonnes. The throughput of LNG continued to rise in the first half year, by 9.8% to 5.9 million tonnes. Most LNG (62%) is imported from the United States.
Containers and breakbulk
Container throughput in tonnes was 9.3% down in the first half of the year at 64.4 million tonnes; the fall in TEUs was 8.1% to 6.7 million. There are two principal reasons for the decline in container throughput: the termination of volumes to and from Russia and the fall in imports from Asia. However, the reliability of the sailing schedules of container vessels continued to improve in the first half of the year. This led to an improvement in volume handling at the port and to the hinterland. Roll-on/roll-off traffic (RoRo) dropped 3.2% to 13.3 million tonnes. In addition to declining demand due to high inflation and stockpiling, the RoRo segment is also affected by the weak UK economy. The general cargo segment fell to 3.4 million tonnes (–11.5%). The main reason is that a lot of general cargo is again being shipped in containers given the low container rates.
Digitalisation
The first half of the year saw major advances in the area of digitalisation. After an intensive pilot phase, Nextlogic was launched officially in January 2023. The aim of the integrated planning tool is to ensure that inland vessels in the port are handled faster and that terminals can make the best use of their quays. Nextlogic expects that, with the connection of more barge operators during 2023, more than 90% of the inland shipping volume at the deep-sea terminals will be routed using this integrated planning tool.
Distro Energy was launched in June of this year. Distro Energy is a fully automated trading platform that allows companies to trade self-produced energy with each other locally and to optimise the use of that energy. The platform is accelerating the energy transition with a new market model that makes it possible to offer better prices for renewable power locally. This will not only raise the local use of renewable power and therefore limit congestion, but also deliver lower costs for users and better returns for parties that produce and/or store renewable energy.
Progress on the energy transition
After long years of preparation, the energy transition is progressing across the entire spectrum. Some seventy projects are currently progressing in various phases, and the energy transition is becoming increasingly visible. Green hydrogen plays a central role in the new carbon-neutral port and economy. The Port of Rotterdam Authority is working on a series of concrete projects throughout the chain of production, infrastructure, transport, imports and use to achieve the climate goals. Alliance agreements for the large-scale imports of green hydrogen were signed this year with parties in countries including Brazil, Spain and Namibia. To produce green hydrogen, two conversion facilities are being set up on Maasvlakte 2. Several companies have plans to build green hydrogen plants here with a capacity of 200-250 MW each. Shell has started work on the construction of the first hydrogen plant. All the available land on the conversion facilities has now been issued.
Elsewhere on the Maasvlakte, space is now being created for a new electrolysis cluster. An eleven-hectare site was set aside here in April 2023 for a hydrogen plant up to 1 GW in size for the party that wins the tender for the Beta section of the IJmuiden Ver wind farm. The Port Authority’s ambition is 2 to 2.5 GW of electrolysis by 2030. The national government is aiming for 4 GW nationwide by 2030. Gasunie took the investment decision in June for the first section of a national hydrogen network from Maasvlakte 2 to Pernis. Work will begin after the summer. From 2030 onwards, the hydrogen network will connect the major industrial regions in the Netherlands and surrounding countries such as Germany and Belgium with one another. The Dutch company Sif will expand its existing plant for monopile foundations on Maasvlakte 2. The first production activities are planned for the second half of 2024.
Significant progress in the area of shore power was also made during this half year. The project for the shore power installation for cruise vessels started in early June and, from late 2024 onwards, the first cruise vessels in Rotterdam will be able to plug in. The work on the sustainability of inland shipping also took more concrete shape with ongoing investment in Zero Emission Services (ZES), a company that focuses on the electrification of inland shipping, and the launch of the Condor H2 project. Condor H2 will provide hydrogen storage and fuel cells with a battery pack on a pay-per-use basis so that vessels can make the transition to being emission-free with a limited upfront investment for shipowners. This alliance between the Port of Rotterdam Authority, the Province of Zuid-Holland and more than forty partners will make it possible for fifty vessels to sail emission-free by 2030.
Outlook
Over the year as a whole, we expect a minor fall in throughput volumes in response to the uncertainties caused by the current geopolitical situation and high inflation. Limited growth in the Dutch economy and recessions abroad are depressing global trade volumes and industrial production. With respect to the Porthos CO2 transport and storage project, the Council of State expects to make a ruling after the summer about whether the ecological assessment demonstrates adequately that the temporary deposition of nitrogen associated with Porthos has no significant effect on protected natural areas. Meanwhile, preparations have continued. As soon as the permits are definitive, Porthos will make a final investment decision.
The fact that the Dutch government is now acting in a caretaker capacity means that there is a risk of stagnation in a number of important areas such as climate and nitrogen. The Port of Rotterdam Authority is willing and able to make a significant contribution to achieving the Dutch climate goals. That will involve making major investments in infrastructure possible over a period of many years. The port of Rotterdam also needs more latitude under the regulations applicable to nitrogen emissions and sufficient grid capacity in order to implement a range of projects in the field of the energy transition. If there are delays, the ambitions cannot be achieved in time and the process of making industry, and therefore the Netherlands, sustainable will stagnate. In the time ahead, the Port of Rotterdam Authority remains committed to moving ahead and implementing these concrete projects.
The Port of Valencia begins electrification of its docks. Image: Port Authority of Valencia
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A new step in the decarbonisation of the Port of Valencia and its firm commitment to be an emission neutral site by 2030. The Port Authority of Valencia (APV) has put out to tender the drafting and execution of the works for the electrical connection to ships for the Transversal Costa-MSC quay. This is the first electrification or Onshore Power Supply (OPS) project to be carried out by Valenciaport in the Valencian precinct.
The APV is thus initiating the procedure for the award of the contract for the drafting and execution of the project for the installation of electrical connections for ships and the maintenance of the same at the Transversal de Costa quay. To this end, Valenciaport has jointly launched the drafting of the construction project, the execution of its works and the maintenance of the installations in the same procedure for an amount of 12,468,626.8 euros (VAT included).
Onshore Power Supply (OPS) electrification infrastructures have been consolidated as a very useful tool for the decarbonisation of ports, as this system avoids the use of auxiliary engines of ships when they are docked in the enclosures. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions – due to the use of electricity that eliminates the consumption of fossil fuels used in these auxiliary engines – and stops the emission of particles and polluting gases.
This OPS initiative in the Port of Valencia will be carried out in parallel with the works on the new electrical substation – a second substation is also planned – which was put out to tender last month with a base budget of around 11 million euros and a completion period of 24 months. This infrastructure will be responsible for supplying green energy to the first OPS electrification project of the Transversal de Costa-MSC quay.
In this regard, Joan Calabuig, president of Valenciaport, stressed that “these are just two examples of real projects in the execution phase that confirm the firm commitment that Valenciaport is making to achieve the goal of being a zero-emissions port by 2030, twenty years ahead of the European Green Pact. It is a commitment to sustainability and to the society of our environment that is supported by initiatives such as the electrification of the docks, the use of hydrogen in port operations, the installation of photovoltaic plants or the commitment to intermodality with the railway. We are committed to sustainable growth that reinforces our position as a port of reference in the Mediterranean”.
Project included in the Next Generation Funds
The joint contracting of the preparation of the project and the execution of the corresponding works in the same procedure is carried out in response to the fact that there are no references in Europe compatible with the ISO/IEC/IEEE 80005 standard and in Spain there is currently no previous experience of OPS projects in operation with the characteristics of the pilot project defined by the Port Authority of Valencia. The combination of the individual components required for this type of installation (transformers, protection cells, disconnectors, frequency converters, etc.) with infrastructures for supplying electricity to ships requires specific projects, with technically complex solutions that have to be designed specifically for each location. In addition, and given that the execution of the construction project is subsidised by the European Union’s Next Generation funds and the Spanish Government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, the joint tender is the only way to meet the established deadlines, since if two separate contracts were launched, the one for the execution of the construction project could not be launched until the one for the drafting of the construction project had been awarded, which would mean that the work would be completed beyond the deadline for the execution of the works to meet the target set by Europe.
MOL joins GCMD as impact partner to accelerate decarbonisation. Image: Pixabay
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The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation GCMD and MOL announced the signing of a five-year Impact Partnership agreement. On the same day, both parties held a signing ceremony at the GCMD office in Singapore.
Decarbonisation in the maritime industry is a challenge that needs to be achieved through accelerating collaboration and increasing investment by shipping companies, their customers, ports, energy suppliers and public sector actors. As an Impact Partner of GCMD, MOL will utilise its expertise developed over their long history and make various contributions and collaborations through its participation in GCMD’s projects, including providing access to vessels, operating data and evaluation reports so that internal learnings can be shared publicly and used for future trials.
MOL is one of the world’s leaders in the maritime industry and has been leading worldwide discussions on achieving decarbonisation. The carbon budget concept imposes a ceiling to the cumulative amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) that can be emitted globally in order to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius by 2050. Intermediate targets to reduce emissions, in addition to a net-zero target, are necessary. While plans are in place to adopt low or zero emissions vessels in the future, it is important to deploy measures to reduce emissions now. Such measures include the use of low-carbon and transition fuels that are available today, and deploying energy savings devices onboard vessels. MOL will bring its extensive capabilities and experience to bear as it joins GCMD and existing partners to accelerate international shipping’s decarbonisation.
Professor Lynn Loo, CEO of the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation, said: “We are proud to have MOL, one of the leading shipowners in Japan, come onboard as an Impact Partner. We are excited to tap on MOL’s track record in developing technical energy efficiency measures to broaden our perspective as we scope an initiative to help increase industry adoption of measures that can increase fuel efficiency of ships.”
Toshiaki Tanaka, Representative Director, Executive Vice President Executive Officer, and Chief Operating Officer of MOL, said: “We are very pleased to be a partner of one of the most important global coalitions. We will make our biggest effort to contribute and accelerate progress towards the net zero future in maritime industry, together with GCMD and all its partners.”
About the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation
The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) was set up on 1 August 2021 as a non-profit organisation. Our strategic partners include the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), BHP, BW Group, Eastern Pacific Shipping, Foundation Det Norske Veritas, Ocean Network Express, Seatrium, bp, Hapag-Lloyd and NYK. Beyond the strategic partners, GCMD has brought on board 15 partners that engage at the centre level, in addition to more than 80 partners that engage at the project level.
Strategically located in Singapore, the world’s largest bunkering hub and second largest container port, GCMD aims to help the industry eliminate GHG emissions by shaping standards for future fuels, piloting low-carbon solutions in an end-to-end manner under real-world operations conditions, financing first-of-a-kind projects, and fostering collaboration across sectors.
Wan Hai Lines establishes its new office in India. Image: Unsplash
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Aiming to further enhance service quality and gain a stronger foothold in the Indian sub-continent, Wan Hai Lines has established its India new office in Kolkata in July 2023. Contact details for the new office are as follows: WAN HAI LINES (INDIA) PVT. LTD 3rd Floor, Block C, Apeejay House, 15 Park Street, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700016 TEL: 91-33-4450 4500 According to the 2023 Foreign Trade Policy announced by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India’s export trade volume will reach 2 trillion US dollars in 2030.
Therefore, benefiting from government policy incentives and the shifting trend of the global supply chain, India’s status in global manufacturing and international trade is increasing, which is conducive to maintaining long-term high economic growth. And the proportion of global exports has increased significantly. In addition, the continuous economic stimulus policy will help revitalize the domestic economy, and domestic demand is expected to increase significantly. Therefore, Wan Hai is optimistic about India’s future import and export situation. And also through the establishment of a new office to improve the overall operating efficiency.
Wan Hai India Kolkata office held a grand opening reception in the evening of 27th July. During the banquet, there were many important customers & guests. The Kolkata Port Authority, Kolkata terminal operators, feeder operators and important local customers were invited to send representatives to attend the meeting to express their blessings to Wan Hai’s opening of the Kolkata market. At present, Wan Hai has six owned offices in India, namely Mumbai, Chennai, Mundra, and Vizag, Delhi and the sixth office Kolkata office. In addition to directly providing river port services, it will also simultaneously strengthen service links between India and neighboring countries, such as Nepal and Bhutan. It is expected to pursue customer first through continuous expansion in the future and sustainable business philosophy.
