Question

Rotterdam: A Logistics Hub

                The Netherlands has long been a nation of traders. The hub of trade is the Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest. It stretches over 40 kilometers (25 miles) and covers over 10,000 hectares (24,000 acres) of land. Over one million tons of goods are loaded, unloaded, and distributed in Rotterdam every day—more than twice the turnover of the next largest European ports, Antwerp, Belgium, and Hamburg, Germany. Worldwide, Rotterdam ranks fourth behind the East Asian hubs of Shanghai, Ningbo, and Singapore. Shipments cover all types of cargo, including chemicals, ores, liquid bulk, dry bulk, vehicles, and refrigerated cargo such as fruit. Every year, 33,000 ocean-going ships call in the port, 6.5 million containers pass through, and 120 million m3 of crude oil arrive to be refined and distributed throughout Europe. The transportation businesses in the port add €6.6 billion to Dutch GDP, while other industries located in the vicinity add another €5 billion.

                The Port of Rotterdam serves as the main logistics hub for sea-bound transportation into and out of Europe, a market of over 500 million consumers. Containers arrive from Asia on mega ships that are too large even for other large ports such as Hamburg or Copenhagen. Thus, containers are transferred in Rotterdam to smaller ships sailing to ports along the Atlantic coast, into the North and Baltic Seas, up the Rhine River, and across to the UK. More than 500 liner services connect Rotterdam with over 1,000 ports worldwide. Huge investments have gone into the port. Essential is the Nieuwe Waterweg (New Channel), which opened in 1870 and connects the city of Rotterdam directly to the North Sea. It has been continuously widened and deepened, while far out in the North Sea, a man-made channel allows easy access even for the largest ships of the world, including mammoth tankers, ore carriers, and container vessels. With a depth of 20 meters the port is accessible for container ships that are unable to berth in other European ports. Maasvlakte 1, which contains the largest container terminals, was reclaimed from the estuary 30 years ago. A new expansion of the port, called Maasvlakte 2, is to extend the port further into the North Sea, creating 1,000 hectares of industrial land.

                Rotterdam is connected to its hinterland by an integrated transportation and logistics infrastructure, including regional shipping lines, inland waterways (especially the Rhine connecting to Germany, France, and Switzerland), oil pipelines, roads, and railways—along with suitably located trans-shipment points between different transport modes. Many goods from the German industrial heartlands of the Ruhr region are loaded on riverboats or direct trains in Duisburg, Germany, and then shipped downstream to Rotterdam, and from there out to the world. Yet, traffic jams hold up trucks, and the regional and national authorities are under pressure to invest in upgrading the infrastructure connecting Rotterdam with Duisburg and other secondary hubs.

                Rotterdam has attracted many businesses relying on imported goods, especially petroleum refinery and chemicals processing plants. Many Japanese and American MNEs set up their European distribution centers in the Rotterdam area, using the South-West of the Netherlands as a logistics hub.

               

question:

A.) What is your reaction to the Rotterdam case?

B) Why is Rotterdam attractive to many businesses relying on imported goods?

Answer 1

A) Response :

The above case highlights the significance of port of Rotterdam in Netherlands as being Europe's largest port which has become a hub of trade. The port is very important for the businesses importing goods as it provides all the facilities of the sea transportation for loading,,unloading and distribution of material. In my opinion the case aims to show why and how important the port is in the region for businesses which has turned it into a main trade centre with almost 500 million customers which is a very huge number. This obviously should bring my notice to what revenue would it be bringing to this largest ever port. I believe why is it mostly prefereed is because of ease of transportation and no doubt it might be charging a good amount from customers for it.

The post shows how many material is transported, nature of material along with facilitative means such as freezers etc, and reflects on the GDP it brings which is more than what others ports bring. This shows the significance of the port for the area and the businesses which avail the services of the port.

B) Rotterdam has got the title of logistics hub and it alone loads and unloads over one million tons of goods without any discrepancy as well as with no scope of delay which attracts the businesses to port goods through Rotterdam no matter what their nature of goods, perishable or breakable its services ensure that they stay fresh and are are supplied at time. And it also has opened the option for businesses belonging to different areas such as Germany, France, Switzerland etc through its interconnected and integrated logistics infrastructure for transportation which includes both regional shipping lines as well as inland waterways which attracts a considerably more businesses towards availing the services of this port rather than looking for any other option. The businesses such as petroleum refinery and chemical processing plants option for this option because of reliability of their products getting shipped safely and securely with these sensitive items, and moreover because of its large area covering almost 24000 acres, every nature of material can be shipped without interfering with the others.

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