Rail Tops 1 Million TEUs at Rotterdam

Rail transport at Rotterdam has broken through the one million TEUs barrier for the first time, taking market share from trucks and barges and improving the modal split at Europe's biggest box port.

Rail traffic grew 11.6 percent in 2008 to 1.01 million TEUs from 950,000 TEUs in the previous year even as overall container volume stagnated at 10.8 million TEUs, the port authority said.

Trucking slipped 5.7 percent to 4.48 million TEUs while inland shipping declined 4.4 percent to 2.34 million TEUs.

Rail's share of box traffic to and from Rotterdam gained two percent to 13 percent while road transport lost two percent to 57 percent and barging was stable at 30 percent.

Rotterdam has long targeted rail transport to lessen reliance on increasingly congested road transport and improve its competitive position against rivals like Hamburg, Europe's second largest box port, where rail has a much bigger share of hinterland traffic.

Rotterdam's rail connections have been enhanced by the Betuwe line, a $6 billion, 100 mile rail freight corridor to the German border that opened two years ago, according to Emile Hoogsteden, Rotterdam's director for containers, break-bulk and logistics.

"The Betuwe route improves our position physically, but at the same time it stimulates the commercial élan of the Rotterdam rail sector. Shipping lines, forwarders and other shippers respond very positively to that," Hoogsteden said.

The port said it expects rail's market share will grow this year as new terminals, come on stream, including the 2.3 million TEU-a-year Euromax facility.

The port authority expects rail will get a major boost from 2013 onward when the first phase of the 8.5 million-TEU Maasvalkte 2 project is completed.

Rotterdam is aiming for barges to have a 45 percent market share by 2035, equivalent to 8.2 million TEUs a year, rail 20 percent, or 3.8 million TEUs, and road 35 percent, or 6.4 million TEUs.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.