News / Alliance reshuffle brings Rotterdam a Q1 box bonus, but total volumes fall

An increase in container traffic boosted an otherwise poor first quarter for the port of Rotterdam, with overall volumes falling 1.2% year-on-year.

Although non-containerised freight volumes dropped, the number of boxes passing through the Dutch gateway ticked up 6.1% to 3.5m teu.

This number is some 1m teu ahead of neighbouring Antwerp, but the rate of growth was far slower than the Belgian port’s 10.7% increase reported last week.

Chief executive of Rotterdam port authority Allard Castelein said: “The continued growth in containers is a confirmation of ...