Rotterdam Soon to be the Sixth Largest Container Port in the World

The Port of Rotterdam will surpass the Taiwanese Port of Kaohsiung to become the sixth busiest port for container traffic by the end of 2007, The China Times reported on Wednesday.

According to the newspaper, which cites statements from the director of the Kaohsiung Port Authority, Hsieh Ming-hui, in the first nine months of this year, the Taiwanese port achieved a container throughput of 10.4 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), which is an increase of 4.1 percent compared to the same period last year. However, the container traffic at the Port of Rotterdam was greater than that of the Taiwanese Port of Kaohsiung, so Rotterdam is on a secure path to replace that Taiwanese port as the 6th busiest container port, Hsieh said. At the end of 2006, Rotterdam lagged behind Kaohsiung by 170,000 TEUs, but in recent months it has attracted a huge number of containers from European ports. Hsieh warned that by the end of the year, Kaohsiung could drop to 8th place if the port in Dubai achieves a 15 percent increase in container traffic.

For comparison, in 2006, container traffic in Dubai increased by 10 percent. In the 1990s, Kaohsiung was the third largest container port in the world, but it has been declining in the rankings in recent years due to the expansion of neighboring ports and Taiwan’s five-year ban on direct maritime traffic with China. Currently, Kaohsiung is the sixth largest container port after Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Busan. According to Taiwanese media, Kaohsiung’s ranking on the world list is expected to decline if Taiwan does not lift the ban on direct maritime traffic with China. In 2006, the port achieved a container throughput of 9.77 million TEUs, which is only 3.2 percent higher than the previous year. This is the weakest growth along with that of the Port of Rotterdam among the 10 largest container ports in the world. In contrast, the Chinese ports of Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as the one in Dubai, recorded the highest growth in container traffic. (H)