OT Africa Line Service
Brochure
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For comprehensive details highlighting our service from Spain please
see our latest service
brochure.
Amsterdam
Port Information
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Port Infrastructure - United Steverdoring Terminal (USA)
Amsterdam is situated at the junction of the North Sea Canal and the Amsterdam
Rhine Canal and offers links to the hinterland. Amsterdam is the world's largest
cocoa port, handling, storing and distribution for nearly 20% of the world's
annual cocoa production.
Facilities
USA offers you everything you would expect from a top
stevedore: speed, flexibility,
reliability, and professionalism.
Amsterdam has a large second hand car and ro-ro market to West
Africa. Relocation helps OTAL get closer to this important and
sensitive component of the West
Africa trade.
Modern cargo-handling equipment for terminal transport, and mobile
multipurpose cranes up to 100 tonnes for the loading and discharging
of a wide range of cargo.
A fast, daily container-shuttle connects USA directly to container
terminals in Rotterdam, Antwerp and Duisburg.
Barge
Service: Rotterdam to Antwerp
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At the present time, OTAL does not have direct calls in Rotterdam, having
switched its Dutch calls some to Amsterdam. Therefore we are now able to offer
customers a new barge link between the port of Rotterdam to Antwerp .
The HT Holland barge terminal is a smaller dedicated facility
which will allow OTAL to offer a regular and reliable daily barging service
between Rotterdam and Antwerp with a sailing time of 10 hrs.
The HT Holland terminal is located at Seinehaven in the Botlek
area of the port. It is easily accessible by road too and offers stuffing and
stripping facilities
as well as storage facilities for hazardous cargo.
Covering 102,000m2 and with
a quay length of 300 meters, it has a capacity of 150,000 containers per
year.
Port News ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rotterdam Container Traffic Falls 10% -
30/12/09
The Port of Rotterdam's container traffic fell 10% in 2009 from 2008, but Europe's
biggest box hub boosted its share of the key Asia-Europe liner shipping trade.
Total cargo volume fell 8.5% to 385 million metric tons from a record 421
million metric tons in 2008, the first decline in 7-years that was driven
by a 29% slump in dry bulk shipments.
The Dutch port handled 9.8 million 20-foot equivalent
units this year against a record 10.8 million TEUs in 2008. According to Port
of Rotterdam Authority
CEO Hans Smits, after hitting rock bottom in the second quarter, throughput
has been improving slightly every month and virtually all the investments are
going ahead, moreover, Rotterdam is doing better than its main rivals. Smits
said the port hopes to break through the 400 million metric tons barrier in
2010 on growth "considerably over 3%.”
Rotterdam said it is benefiting from the trend among
ocean carriers to combine services and deploy their biggest vessels to cut
costs. Container traffic to and from North and South America and within Europe
has been hard hit by the global recession. But the Baltic trade, mainly feeder
traffic linked to Asian services, "is really flourishing," the Port
Authority said.
Roll-on, roll-off traffic, which is focused on
the UK market, shrunk 10.6% to 16 million metric tons from 17.9 million metric
tons in 2008. Conventional
general cargo slumped 16.3% to just over 6 million metric tons with break
bulk steel shipments down a third and auto traffic shrinking by 70%. Paper
products
were slightly lower and project cargo was stable.[JOC 30/12/09]
Amsterdam Port Secure funding For New Ijmuiden
Dock - 04/12/09
Amsterdam has secured funding for a new lock at Ijmuiden to be located at the
entry of the North Sea Channel giving
access to the port. It will come in addition to the three current locks, of
which the largest 80-year old lock measures 400m
long, 47.3m wide and15m deep. Construction of the US$947 m complex is to start
in 2013 for completion in 2016. Part of the
agreement between the Dutch government and the capital is corporatisation of
the Amsterdam Port Authority, presently part
of the municipality. The new lock will be 500m long, 65m wide and have a depth
of 18m, therewith beating those built in the
Panama Canal [427x55x18.3]. However, due to other infrastructural limitations,
maximum draught for transiting the Channel
will remain at 14m. [DY 04/12/09]
Dubai Woes 'Will Not Impact' Rotterdam
Expansion - 07/12/09
The Port of Rotterdam has announced that financial problems at the Dubai World
group will not have any impact on the
development of new box handling facilities for its greenfield Maasvlakte 2
project. Dubai World's global ports operating unit
DP World is the key company behind the Rotterdam World Gateway [RWG] consortium
which is scheduled to run the first
box terminal on Maasvlakte 2. The port noted that with a 30% shareholding,
DP World is one of the companies that together
form RWG. The other four RWG partners are all liners: Japan's MOL, Singapore's
APL, France's CMG CGM, and Korea's
Hyundai Merchant Marine.
Aside from RWG, there are two other sites at Maasvlakte
2 that have been assigned to two other port operators – APM
Terminals and Euromax. Wherby both RWG and APMT and the Port Authority are
keeping to the current schedule for the
completion of the first phases of the terminals on Maasvlakte 2. RWG will start
terminal operations in 2013, and APMT in
2014. As yet, there is no scheduled completion date for the expansion of the
Euromax on Maasvlakte 2.
Construction work has already begun on Maasvlakte
2 to expand the port's handling capacity by 20%. The port in February
last year secured a US$667 m loan from a consortium of Dutch banks including
Fortis, Rabobank International and ING. The
loan will mainly be used for its Maasvlakte 2 greenfield expansion project.
The European Investment Bank and Bank
Nederlandse Gemeenten [BNG] had earlier announced loans of US$1.3 bn and US$667
m respectively for the port.
The development agreement for the then estimated €900 m [$1.3 bn] RWG
box terminal was signed in September 2007 by
port officials and the five-member RWG consortium. The agreement covers building
the superstructure, equipping and
operating the new terminal at the Maasvlakte 2 greenfield development. The
new terminal will be the first to be set up on the
greenfield site. With a capacity of some 4-m TEUs, the terminal will feature
a 1,900-metre long deep-sea quay with a depth
of 20 metres, a 550-metre quay for inland shipping and feeder vessels and its
own rail terminal with a connection to the
Betuwe rail freight project. [PW 07/12/09]
Rotterdam Cargo Throughput Drops - 16/10/09
Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port by volume, saw total throughput fall
11.9% in the first 9-months of 2009 to 283m tonnes but advised that the cargo
downturn has stabilised. In a general traffic decline affecting all but the
specialised oil sector, container volumes fell 13% to 7.2m teu while ro-ro
traffic slumped 13% to 12m tonnes.
Port of Rotterdam Authority chief executive Hans Smits said of the 11.9% fall: “There
is still a hefty decrease in terms of percentages, but the trend curve has
started turning slightly upwards again since July. “On
balance, this means a stabilisation in throughput. This corresponds to expectations
from halfway through the year, according to which the prognosis for the whole
year is a decrease in throughput of approximately 10%.” Rotterdam said that it has been less affected than rival ports by rationalisation
of the Asian container services, while box feeders are experiencing “healthy
growth”. [LL 16/10/09]
Ports Of Amsterdam To Be Corporatised -
18/09/09
The municipally-owned Amsterdam ports authority will become a limited liability
company, with the city, province and the Dutch state owning the shares. The
Amsterdam city government gave the green light for corporatisation on 17/09/09.
Similar arrangements were made in Rotterdam several years ago and are generally
seen to have been successful. This move is a significant step towards the construction
of a ships’ lock at Ijmuiden and co-operation with other Dutch ports
is expected to be eased as both Amsterdam and Rotterdam would now have the
same structure. [WCN 18/09/09]
Main European Ports Report First Half Results
- 14/08/09
In the first half of 2009, 185 Mt of goods were handled in the port of Rotterdam,
13.4% down on the same period of 2008. Exports fell by 4.6% to 54 Mt, imports
by 16.6% to Mt. Bulk cargo throughput was down by 12.4% to 128 Mt. Results
for general cargo were 15.5% lower, at 57 Mt. Only the handling of mineral
oil products showed an increase, up by 17% or 5 Mt, to over 35 Mt. All other
categories of goods were way down: agribulk [-19%], ores and scrap [-61%],
coal [-14%], other dry bulk [-28%], crude oil [-4%], other liquid bulk [-20%],
roll on/roll off [-14%], other general cargo [-27%] and containers [-15%].
Expressed in figures, container throughput fell by 15% to 4.6M TEU.
Hans Smits, Port of Rotterdam Authority CEO: “We believe that the bottom
of the cycle has been reached. In the second half of the year, I expect throughput
to stabilise, bringing the shrinkage for the year as a whole to approximately
-12%. In 2010, Rotterdam will then be able to benefit from the predicted, modest
increase in world trade and contribute towards the recovery of growth in the
Dutch economy. "Despite the slump, our market share is actually increasing
quite clearly. Investment appears to be paying off. That is why we are now
benefiting from the strong movements in trade in crude oil and oil products.
On the Maasvlakte, the container sector can push down costs through increases
in scale and concentration. The Port Authority will therefore continue to invest
in the current port area and Maasvlakte 2”.
In the container trades, the port says there were
signs of recovery in throughput from February onwards, thanks to the rationalisation
of services and concentration
on Rotterdam. Partly on the back of this, feeder traffic is also increasing,
mainly to the Baltic area. Container throughput is expected to fall again
in July/August, followed by a recovery in connection with the festive season.
It is also likely that the cooperation between shipping lines will be extended
further. This provides new opportunities for Rotterdam.
Ro-ro transport was
14% down, to almost 8 Mt. The economic decline in the United Kingdom, by
far the most important ro-ro market, is particularly marked.
Furthermore, the fall in the value of the pound is pushing down exports from
the continent. The early outbreak of the crisis in the UK could be followed
by an early recovery. In that case, throughput could rally slightly this
year, to almost 17 Mt. The pessimistic scenario is 2 to 3 Mt lower.
The handling of other general cargo was way down,
by 27% [-1 Mt]. The massive fall in demand for steel, which accounts for about
half of general cargo
throughput, and metals is being particularly hard felt. Fruit handling
is a little less
sensitive to the economic situation, but is under structural pressure due
to the ongoing process of containerisation. The transhipment of paper/pulp
is
declining because less advertising mean thinner newspapers and magazines.
Finally, says the port, project cargo is attractive to the stevedores,
but adds little
weight to the throughput figures.
Rotterdam Capacity Glut - 29/07/09
Rotterdam faces an enormous glut of container capacity when a new terminal begins
operations in 2013, the head of ECT the port's biggest box stevedore warned.
Rotterdam is already facing surplus capacity of between 1 million and 1.5 million
20TEU next year as traffic slows. According to Jan Westerhoud "It would
be fatal in this situation to open yet another container terminal with a capacity
of a couple of million containers a year." Westerhoud suggested the construction
of Maasvlakte 2, a giant container and distribution hub, should go ahead but
the first terminal to be completed should delay operations
until after 2013.
Maasvlakte 2 is at the centre of Rotterdam's bid
to protect its position as Europe's top container port from an assault by close
rival Hamburg. A consortium led by DP World, the Dubai-based global terminal
operator, and including four ocean carriers - MOL, CMA CGM, Hyundai and APL
- won the contract to build a $1.5 billion, four million TEUs-a-year terminal
scheduled to receive its first ship in 2013. Initial work on the Maasvlakte
began in November and construction of the quay for the first terminal is scheduled
to get underway in 2010.
Rotterdam's container traffic slipped 15% in the
first half of 2009 from a year ago to 4.6 million TEUs and the port is forecasting
full year volume will shrink by around 12% from a record 10.8 million TEUs
in 2008. [JOC 29/07/09]
HT Holland Terminal BV / Repaircon BV Taken
Over By Waalhaven Group - 01/01/09
As of 01/01/09 PSA Hesse-Noord Natie and the Waalhaven Group [www.waalhaven-group.nl]
have agreed
on the takeover by the Waalhaven Group of the activities of H.T.Holland Terminals
B.V. and Rapaircon BV in
Rotterdam-Botlek. The activities will be continued by Waalaven Botlek Terminal
B.V. [WBT]. Jan Overdevest,
Pieter Verstoep and Edwin Lammers will for the new management team at WBT.
[WBT 01/01/09]
Amsterdam Stevedore Upgrades Cranes - October
2008
United Stevedores Amsterdam [USA] has taken delivery of two new mobile harbour
cranes [MHCs], enabling the Ter Haak Group-owned stevedore to handle 8,000
teu container vessels. Two existing cranes were replaced by two Liebherr
LHM 500s cranes at Amsterdam’s Amerikahaven. The new MHCs are more
environmentally friendly, with fuel consumption reduced by 25%. The cranes
also have better insulation, resulting in a substantial decrease in the noise
levels.
As well as more efficient handling of containers and breakbulk cargo, the operator
said the new cranes will help serve the increasing demand to handle heavy lift
and project cargo. The new cranes have a joint lifting capacity of 150 tonnes
when combined and the production speed of cranes is between 28 and 40 teu/moves
per hour. In addition, the new cranes have greater outreach and are equipped
with a so-called tower extension, and a higher pivot point of the pole on the
tower.
In a separate development, Rotterdam-based stevedore rhb stevedoring & warehousing
has purchased a Liebherr LHM 600s for loading and unloading heavy industrial
breakbulk and project cargo. [CS 10/08]
Rotterdam And Amsterdam To Merge Port Data
Systems - 06/10/08
In an effort to offer customers of the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam a broader
range of services for the exchange of data both between them and with the
port authorities and Customs, the two ports have decided to have one port
community system from 01/07/09. To achieve this, the organisations behind
the two current systems - Port infolink [www.portinfolink.com] in Rotterdam
and PortNET [www.portnet.com] in Amsterdam - are to merge. The collaboration
will mean that the participants in PortNET can use the services of Port infolink
for the exchange of data from mid-2009 onwards. These will be modified for
the Amsterdam situation. The existing PortNET system [ERINet] will then be
phased out. For Rotterdam's Port infolink clients, nothing will change in
the everyday use of the current services. A second element will be the development
of a new technical platform with existing and new functionality in order
to prepare the joint port community
system for the future. [Cargonews/CI/LL 06/10/08]
Rotterdam: Best Half Year In A Decade -
October 2008
The port of Rotterdam has announced a 7.7% climb in volumes for the first half
of the year, with cargo rising to 213m tonnes. Dutch Port Authority President
Hans Smits also announced the port will start work on Maasvlakte 2 at the
beginning of September, an expansion project that has been in the making
for the last 15 years. Smits said that all of the necessary permits are in
place. Throughput at the port saw bulk goods grow faster than general cargo,
increasing by 9.3%, compared to a 4.4% in general cargo. Container turnover
increased by 4% to 5.4m TEU. The Port of Rotterdam Authority is assuming
continuing growth of close on 7%.
Rotterdam Port Authority: Alblasserdam Container
Transferium - 01/08/08
Infrastructural developments at Rotterdam port have been hard pressed to keep
pace with cargo growth. In a bid to relieve the situation Rotterdam Port Authority
[PRA] has joined with 12 companies to sign a letter of intent to develop a
new logistics concept. The Container Transferium will be located in Alblasserdam
50-km from Maasvlake on a 17-ha site next to the River Noord. The site will
have access to both road and rail. At the transferium trucks will load and
unload containers that would otherwise have been transported to and from the
sea terminals on the Maasvlake via the A15 motorway, which will have reduced
capacity for 2-years from 2009 due to planned road works. Inland vessels will
ensure frequent connections to the big container terminals at the Western end
of the port. There is also room for a number of services on and around the
handling centre, such as empty depots and distribution centres. Custom inspections
will be able to be carried out on site and a port infolink centre will ensue
electronic communication between all parties.
Another inland terminal development
set to ease the situation in Rotterdam is the Overslag Terminal Alphen [OTA]
which began construction this summer
and will go into operation in mid-2009. The terminal will be built on the
River Gouwe, southeast of Alphenaan den Rijn, 75km from the Maasvlakte, with
links
to the N11 motorway and the N207. Initial capacity will be 70,000TEU expanding
to 100,000TEU in a few years. German container operator Eurogate are also negotiating
an inland network to barge containers between Hamburg and Bremen scheduled
to start January 2009.
[CS 01/08/08]
Deepening Of Scheldt Now Starts In The Netherlands
- August 2008
The First Chamber of the Dutch parliament has ratified the four Scheldt Treaties,
thus laying the basis for further sustainable development of the port of
Antwerp by improving the access for larger ships in the near future.
Deepening of the navigation channel is one of the action points of the four
treaties. After Flanders, the Netherlands will now start the necessary work
to ensure tide-independent navigation for ships with a draught of up to 13.10
metres [43']. Under the terms of the treaty this degree of navigability must
be achieved by 2009, enabling larger ships to reach Antwerp whatever the state
of the tide. Once the deepening work has been completed, seven out of ten ships
that currently face problems will be able to reach the port of Antwerp without
tide constraints.
Now that the Dutch parliament has ratified the treaties, all members of the
Antwerp port community [both public and private] expect that the Netherlands
will go ahead quickly with the deepening of the Western Scheldt.
