The Port of Rotterdam is the largest

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and the world's largest seaport outside of

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

, located in and near the city of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, in the province of

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. From 1962 until 2004, it was the world's busiest port by annual cargo tonnage. It was overtaken first in 2004 by the

port of Singapore The Port of Singapore refers to the collective facilities and terminals that conduct maritime trade and handles Singapore's harbours and shipping. It has been ranked as the top maritime capital of the world since 2015. Currently the world's se ...

, and since then by

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and other very large Chinese seaports. In 2020, Rotterdam was the world's tenth-largest container port in terms of

twenty-foot equivalent units The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports.Rowlett, 2004. It is based on the volume of a intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box whic ...

(TEU) handled.The largest container ports worldwide by cargo throughput 2020 – Statista
/ref> In 2017, Rotterdam was also the world's tenth-largest

cargo port A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more Wharf, wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can a ...

in terms of annual cargo tonnage. Covering , the port of Rotterdam now stretches over a distance of . It consists of the city centre's historic harbour area, including

Delfshaven Delfshaven is a borough of Rotterdam, Netherlands, on the right bank of river Nieuwe Maas. It was a separate municipality until 1886. The town of Delfshaven grew around the port of the city of Delft. Delft itself was not located on a major river ...

; the Maashaven/Rijnhaven/ Feijenoord complex; the harbours around Nieuw-Mathenesse;

Waalhaven Waalhaven Airport in 1932, with the Graf Zeppelin in the background. The Waalhaven is a harbour in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It used to be home to an airport, Vliegveld Waalhaven (Waalhaven Airport). It was the second civilian airport in the Ne ...

; Vondelingenplaat; Eemhaven;

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;

Europoort Europoort (, en, Eurogate, also "Europort") is an area of the Port of Rotterdam and the adjoining industrial area in the Netherlands. Being situated at Southside of the mouth of the rivers Rhine and Meuse with the hinterland consisting of the ...

, situated along the Calandkanaal,

Nieuwe Waterweg The Nieuwe Waterweg ("New Waterway") is a ship canal in the Netherlands from het Scheur (a branch of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta) west of the town of Maassluis to the North Sea at Hook of Holland: the Maasmond, where the Nieuwe Waterweg conn ...

and

Scheur Het Scheur (; Dutch for "The Rip") is a branch of the Rhine-Meuse delta in South Holland, Netherlands, that flows west from the confluence of the Oude Maas and Nieuwe Maas branches past the towns of Rozenburg and Maassluis. It continues as the ...

(the latter two being continuations of the

Nieuwe Maas The Nieuwe Maas (; "New Meuse") is a distributary of the Rhine River, and a former distributary of the Meuse (river), Maas River, in the Netherlands, Dutch Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland. It runs from the confluence of th ...

); and the reclaimed

Maasvlakte The Maasvlakte () is a massive man-made westward extension of the Europoort port and industrial facility within the Port of Rotterdam. Situated in the municipality of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the Maasvlakte is built on land reclaimed fr ...

area, which projects into the North Sea. The Port of Rotterdam is located in the middle of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta. Rotterdam has five port concessions (ports) within its boundaries - operated by separate companies under the overall authority of Rotterdam. Rotterdam consists of five distinct port areas and three distribution parks that facilitate the needs of a

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...

with over 500,000,000 consumers throughout the continent of Europe.

Nieuwe Waterweg

In the first half of the 19th century the port activities moved from the centre westward towards the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. To improve the connection to the North Sea, the

("New Waterway"), a large canal, was designed to connect the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

and

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

rivers to the sea. The Nieuwe Waterweg, designed by

Pieter Caland Pieter Caland ( Zierikzee, 23 July 1826 - Wageningen, 12 July 1902) was a Dutch civil engineer in the service of the Rijkswaterstaat. He devised the plan for the Nieuwe Waterweg and implemented it from 1864 to 1872. This visionary project was ...

, was to be partly dug, then to further deepen the canal bed by the natural flow of the water. Ultimately however, the last part had to be dug by manual labour as well. Nevertheless, Rotterdam from then on had a direct connection between the sea and harbour areas with sufficient depth. The Nieuwe Waterweg has since been deepened several times. It was ready in 1872 and all sorts of industrial activity formed on the banks of this canal..

Europoort and Maasvlakte extensions

Europoort Rotterdam and Nieuwe Waterweg of the Maas

Satellite image of Europoort, Netherlands (4

Over the years the port was further developed seaward by building new docks and harbour-basins. Rotterdam's harbour territory has been enlarged by the construction of the ''

'' (gate to Europe) complex along the mouth of the ''Nieuwe Waterweg''. In the 1970s the port was extended into the sea at the south side of the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg by completion of the ''

'' (

-plain) which was built in the

near

Hook of Holland Hook of Holland ( nl, Hoek van Holland, ) is a town in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was the word in use before the word ''kaap'' – "cape", from Portuguese ''cabo'' – became Dutch. The English t ...

. In the past five years the industrialised skyline has been changed by the addition of large numbers of

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s taking advantage of the exposed coastal conditions. The construction of a second Maasvlakte received initial political approval in 2004, but was stopped by the Raad van State (the

Dutch Council of State The Council of State ( nl, ) is a constitutionally established advisory body in the Netherlands to the government and States General that officially consists of members of the royal family and Crown-appointed members generally having political ...

, which advises

the government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

and

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

on legislation and governance) in 2005, because the plans did not take enough account of environmental issues. On 10 October 2006, however, approval was acquired to start construction in 2008, aiming for the first ship to anchor in 2013.

Characteristics

Most important for the port of

is the

petrochemical industry The petrochemical industry is concerned with the production and trade of petrochemicals. A major part is constituted by the plastics (polymer) industry. It directly interfaces with the petroleum industry, especially the downstream sector. Compan ...

and general

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

transshipment Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g. ...

handlings. The harbour functions as an important transit point for transport of

bulk Bulk can refer to: Industry * Bulk cargo * Bulk liquids * Bulk mail * Bulk material handling * Bulk pack, packaged bulk materials/products * Bulk purchasing * Baking * Bulk fermentation, the period after mixing when dough is left alone to f ...

and other goods between the European continent and other parts of the world. From Rotterdam goods are transported by ship, river barge, train or road. Since 2000 the ''

Betuweroute The Betuweroute is a double track freight railway between Rotterdam and Germany. is the official name, after the Betuwe area through which the route passes. The line is popularly called Betuwelijn, after an older track in the same region. Th ...

'', a fast cargo

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

from Rotterdam to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, has been under construction. The

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

part of this railway opened in 2007. Large

oil refineries An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...

are located west of the city. The rivers

(''Maas'') and

also provide excellent access to the pan-European

24-metre draft

The EECV-quay of the port has a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of 24 metres (78 feet). This made it one of only two available mooring locations for one of the largest bulk cargo ships in the world, the

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, econom ...

MS ''Berge Stahl'' when it is fully loaded, along with the Terminal of

Ponta da Madeira Ponta da Madeira is a Brazilian private port, a large iron ore loading port in São Luís, in the Northern part of Brazil, and one of the only terminals in the country suited for the ultra large Valemax ships. In 2020, the port of Ponta da Mad ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, until the opening of a new deep-water iron ore wharf at

Caofeidian Caofeidian () is a land reclamation-converted economic development zone in Bohai Bay located in the eponymous district of Tangshan, Hebei Province, China.

in China in 2011. The ship's draft of 23 meters (75 feet) leaves only 1 metre (3 feet) of under keel clearance, therefore it can only dock in a restricted tidal window. Such ships must travel in the

Eurogeul The Eurogeul or Euromaasgeul is a channel dug in the North Sea in conjunction with the Port of Rotterdam. It has a length of 57 km and a depth of 23 meters. Use The Eurogeul is a so-called ''deep water route'' in the '' Traffic Separation Sc ...

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...

Robotic container operations

Much of the container loading and stacking in the port is handled by autonomous robotic cranes and computer controlled chariots. Europe Container Terminals, which operates two major container terminals at the port, pioneered the development of terminal automation. At the Delta terminal, the chariots—or automated guided vehicles (AGV)—are unmanned and each carries one container. The chariots navigate their own way around the terminal with the help of a magnetic grid built into the terminal tarmac. Once a container is loaded onto an AGV, it is identified by

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

"eyes" and delivered to its designated place within the terminal. This terminal is also named "the ghost terminal". Unmanned Automated Stacking Cranes (ASC) take containers to/from the AGVs and store them in the stacking yard. The newer Euromax terminal implements an evolution of this design that eliminates the use of

straddle carrier A straddle carrier or straddle truck is a freight-carrying vehicle that carries its load underneath by "straddling" it, rather than carrying it on top like a conventional truck. The advantage of the straddle carrier is its ability to load and unloa ...

s for the land-side operations.

Smart Technology

The Port Authority at the Port of Rotterdam uses the

Internet of Things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...

, a cloud-based platform, to collect and process data from sensors around the port. In May 2019, the port sent Container 42 out on a two-year data-collecting mission.

Urban renewal in vacant port areas

As early as 1892, the Leuvehaven attracted the first museum visitors. Art lovers could view one of Van Gogh's first exhibitions in the art gallery at number 74 Leuvehaven. At the time, no one would have thought that the harbor itself would have become a museum a hundred years later. In 1979 the

Maritime Museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navies and the militar ...

opened the museum ship the Buffel in the Leuvehaven. That ship used to serve for the Dutch navy. On April 16, 1983, the Maritime Museum was built at the head of the Leuvehaven. It opened in 1986. The Maritime Museum (Havenmuseum, merged with the Maritime Museum since 2014) filled the rest of the harbor with ships. The Leuvehaven is still a home port for a small number of inland vessels. The Oude Haven is one of the oldest ports of Rotterdam. It is located in the center of the city, south-east of

Rotterdam Blaak station Rotterdam Blaak is a railway station, railway and Rotterdam Metro, metro metro station, station in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Located in the centre of the city, not far from the cube houses and the Market Hall (Rotterdam), Markthal, the station is ser ...

. Today the Oude Haven is a well-known and busy nightlife area with cafes and restaurants with terraces on the water, close to the famous Kubuswoningen, the

Witte Huis The Witte Huis () or White House is a building and National Heritage Site in Rotterdam, Netherlands, built in 1898 in the Art Nouveau style.Rijksmonument report The building is tall, with 10 floors. It was also the first ''hoogbouw'' (liter ...

and the adjacent Mariniersmuseum. Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences has a location nearby. The most important project in this development is the Kop van Zuid - an area on the south bank of the Nieuwe Maas, directly opposite the city center. The area has not been used as a port since the German bombing in 1940 and fell into disrepair in the decades that followed. In 1993 the

Hotel New York ''Hotel New York'' is the fourth studio album recorded by the Dutch pop/ rock singer Anouk and released on December 3, 2004, in the Netherlands. The album is named for the location where Anouk wrote all its songs: Hotel New York in Rotterdam. De ...

, former office building of the

Holland America Lines Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operated ...

(Nederlandsch Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij), opened. With the construction of the

Erasmusbrug The Erasmusbrug (English: "Erasmus Bridge") is a combined cable-stayed and bascule bridge, construction began in 1986 and was completed in 1996. It crosses the Nieuwe Maas in the centre of Rotterdam, connecting the north and south parts of this ci ...

in 1996, the city created a direct connection between the two banks of the Meuse. Since then, numerous public buildings such as the Luxor theater, several museums, but also office and residential high-rises have been built. In March 2020 it was announced that the Rijnhaven will be partially filled in after 2024 and used for residential construction and the construction of a city park. The Posthumalaan will then become a city boulevard with high residential towers and the Wilhelminaplein and Rijnhaven underground stations will be renovated. In the meantime, the Floating Office Rotterdam (FOR) opened in September 2021 on the Antoine Platekade and accommodates the Global Center on Adaptation. The FOR also includes a restaurant and an outdoor swimming pool. This is a project in the context of th
Rotterdam Climate Initiative
(RCI).

Administration

The port is operated by the Port of Rotterdam Authority, originally a municipal body of the municipality of Rotterdam, but since 1 January 2004, a government corporation jointly owned by the municipality of Rotterdam and the Dutch State.

Flood barriers

The Port of Rotterdam and its surrounding area is susceptible to a

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the n ...

from the North Sea. As part of the

Delta Works The Delta Works ( nl, Deltawerken) is a series of construction projects in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta from the sea. Constructed between 1954 and 1997, the works con ...

plan, the

Maeslantkering The Maeslantkering ("Maeslant barrier" in Dutch) is a storm surge barrier on the Nieuwe Waterweg, in South Holland, Netherlands. It was constructed from 1991 to 1997. As part of the Delta Works the barrier responds to water level predictions ca ...

flood barrier A flood barrier, surge barrier or storm surge barrier is a specific type of floodgate, designed to prevent a storm surge or spring tide from flooding the protected area behind the barrier. A surge barrier is almost always part of a larger flood ...

was constructed from 1991 to 1997 to protect the area. This

consists of two huge doors that normally rest in a

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

besides the Nieuwe Waterweg. When a flood of above

NAP A nap is a short period of sleep, typically taken during daytime hours as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Naps are most often taken as a response to drowsiness during waking hours. A nap is a form of biphasic or polyphasic sl ...

(mean sea level) is predicted, the barrier is activated. The dry dock is flooded, and the gates rotate around a pivot to float into position, like caissons, and sunk in place. When the water level recedes enough to open the gates, they are floated back into their docks. Another barrier, the

Hartelkering The Hartelkering (English: Hartel barrier) is a storm surge barrier in Spijkenisse, Netherlands. The barrier is part of the Europoortkering, itself part of the Delta Works project and is designed to close the Hartelkanaal in case of a storm su ...

, is situated in the Hartelkanaal.

Sustainability

The Port of Rotterdam aims to be emissions-free by the year 2050.

Map of port

References

External links

Port of Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the sixth biggest port in the world
{{Authority control Port of Rotterdam Ports and harbours of the North Sea Economy of Rotterdam 14th-century establishments in the Netherlands