Figures released by the port of Rotterdam shown throughput fell sharply in the first quarter of this year.
Some 94 million tonnes of goods were handled by the port, 10.8% down on the same period in 2008.
The sharpest falls in throughput were for iron ore and scrap, down 50% on the same quarter last year.
Hans Smits, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority said: "The decline in throughput is considerable, but is in line with the picture I outlined in December of a poor first six months.
“Despite some rays of hope, the problems, for example in container shipping, continue to dominate.
“The recovery will therefore begin a little later than originally anticipated. We foresee a decline in throughput over the year as a whole of between 6 and 10%".
Imports of crude oil fell less than might have been expected, said a statement from the Port Authority.
It said that players, speculating on future price increases, had continued to fill storage tanks and had even been using tankers for temporary storage.
“As a result, the quarterly figures fell to a limited degree, by 4% to 24.9 million metric tonnes (mt),” a spokesman said.
Throughput of mineral oil was actually up by 13%. Coal throughput was up by 24%.
But most sectors saw saw a decline in trade.
“The very sharp fall in imports of iron ore, to 5.3 million mt, is the result of the collapsed demand for steel, combined with large stocks of ore at the terminals,” said the Port Authority.
“As blast furnaces have also been shut down, positive trends in demand for steel and ore prices are only having a very slow impact on ore imports. This also applies to throughput of scrap.”
In other sectors, liquid bulk throughput was down 17% and containers throughput was down 18%.
Source: Portworld
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