The changing fate of European ports: are there signs of recovery?

At Europe’s largest port in Rotterdam, throughput in the first half of this year remained virtually unchanged compared to the same period last year. The result of 220.7 million tons was 0.3% lower than the previous year. The decline, similar to previous quarters, was driven by lower transshipments of coal, oil, and liquid bulk cargo.

Conversely, there was an increase in the transshipment of iron, dry bulk cargo, mineral products, and containers. Dry bulk cargo saw a 2.1% increase in the first half of the year compared to the previous year, largely due to a 12.6% rise in the transshipment of iron ore and scrap (reaching 14.6 million tons). On the other hand, coal transshipments dropped by 19.7% year-on-year due to decreased demand for thermal coal.

Finances outpace volumes

Although transshipment volumes remained consistent with the previous year, financial performance improved for the Dutch port in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2023. The port’s revenues amounted to €439.6 million—an increase from the previous year. EBITDA also rose year-on-year to €291.7 million, and net profit reached €148.2 million, reflecting growth compared to the first half of 2023.

The changing influence of the Red Sea

In terms of liquid cargo, volumes decreased by 3.1% year-on-year from January to June 2024. Oil transshipments declined by 5.8%, partly due to maintenance work at the Rotterdam refinery, which affected demand. Despite the decrease in oil transshipments, the volume of handled petroleum products increased by 4.7% to 28.6 million tons. LNG volumes remained stable compared to the previous year, showing only a 0.3% change, reaching 6 million tons.

Container transshipment in the first half of the year rose by 4.2% in terms of tonnage (67.1 million tons) and 2.2% in TEUs (6.8 million). This growth was driven by rising consumer demand and an earlier peak season, prompted by the need to order products earlier due to the crisis in the Red Sea.

Ro-Ro cargo at the Port of Rotterdam decreased by 4.1% year-on-year, totaling 12.8 million tons. General cargo (breakbulk) also dropped by over 10% to 3.1 million tons, as more goods are being transported in containers. Additionally, congestion resulting from the situation in the Red Sea led some breakbulk cargo to be handled by other ports.

For the entirety of 2024, the Port of Rotterdam Authority expects a slight increase in throughput, as indicated by growing container volumes. The management hopes that the increase will be supported by greater activity in the European production sector and diminishing inventories.

Antwerp stands out

The second-largest port in Europe, the combined harbors of Antwerp and Zeebrugge, recorded a more noticeable increase in throughput compared to Rotterdam. Volumes grew by 3% year-on-year in the first half of the year, reaching 143.2 million tons.

Container transshipment saw a significant increase—6.8% in tonnage and 4.1% year-on-year in terms of 20-foot containers, with 6.665 million TEU handled in Belgian ports.

In the general cargo category, similar to Rotterdam, there was a 6.2% year-on-year decline in the first half of the year. However, as the operator of the Antwerp port notes, an improvement in transshipment was observed in the second quarter compared to the first three months of the year. Iron and steel, the key products in this category, saw a slight volume increase of 0.6% year-on-year.

Ro-Ro products (mainly vehicles) decreased by 5.7% year-on-year in the first half of 2024. Among them, new cars declined by 9%, trucks by 17%, and used cars by over 45%.

Dry bulk cargo saw a slight increase of 0.4% compared to the same period last year. However, it’s worth noting that in the first quarter, there was a year-on-year decline of over 12%. The largest growth in transshipment was recorded in the fertilizer category (up by 34.8%), making it the largest segment in the dry bulk cargo department. Non-ferrous metal ores also saw a significant increase (up by 27%), while declines were recorded in coal (down by 40%), grain (down by 9.5%), sand and gravel (down by 8.3%), and scrap (down by 5.9%).

A similarly modest increase (0.7%) was seen in the liquid bulk cargo category in the first half of the year. This also marked a reversal of the downward trend observed in the first quarter of this year. Gasoline transshipments increased by 18%, and heating oil by over 10%. The volumes of petroleum and chemical products were also higher than a year earlier, by 8% and 6.7%, respectively. However, declines were noted in the diesel category (down by 19%) and LNG (down by 6.4%). Overall, liquid fuel transshipment at the Belgian port was 1.1% lower than in the first half of 2023.

Germany’s struggles extend to Hamburg

The smallest of Europe’s “big three” ports, Hamburg, recorded the steepest decline in throughput. A total of 55.9 million tons of cargo passed through the German port, representing a 3.9% drop.

General cargo accounted for the majority of the handled volume, with 39.2 million tons processed in the first half of 2024—unchanged from the previous year.

The German port is feeling the impact of European climate policies on transshipment. The decarbonization of the European economy has significantly reduced hydrocarbon cargo volumes. Coal transshipments were hit particularly hard, falling by 11.8% year-on-year. This decline contributed to a 12.1% decrease in dry bulk cargo volumes (16.7 million tons).

While container volumes increased in Rotterdam and Antwerp, signaling some recovery in demand, container volumes at the Port of Hamburg remained flat, reflecting the sluggish mood in the German economy and manufacturing sector. In the first half of 2024, 3.8 million TEUs were handled at the German port, a slight 0.3% decrease compared to the previous year.