The potential of the Port of Rotterdam

Beginning of 2017 Bart Kuipers, harbor economist on the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, mentioned this year should be the year the Rotterdam harbor can show its potential to stay ahead of its competition. Rotterdam’s biggest competitions are the harbors of Antwerp and Hamburg, because of their size and location and both are working hard to beat its competition. In 2016 the Rotterdam harbor made a transition and invested in the expansion and automatization of the harbor making it one of the most advanced harbors in the world. The contained industry, however, is expected to shrink in the future due to 3D printing, a freight railroad from China to Europe and the trend of borrow cars suppressing car manufacturing according to Kuipers. Additionally, the Brexit and protective measure by Trump suppress trade as well. However, none of was able to stop the Rotterdam harbor from have its best first quarter since years. Container movement increased by 10% in the last 4 months, due to arrival of Europe’s largest freight ship named MOL Triumph with a capacity of 20,000 containers. Additionally, they opened one of the largest truck parking places with 750 parking spots with sensor security this month. Who knows what the future holds for one of the main contributors to the success of Rotterdam? All we know is now is performing better than ever.