PORT

Rotterdam has been always a port city. Located near deep waters, and accessible from both the North Sea and by river from the interior of the continent, it was in a perfect position to become the greatest port in the world.

The port of Rotterdam is a very complex system of ports and wharves within the city and along the coast line. The ports in the city are the oldest ones and are used for smaller ships. Most of these ships transport materials to the centre of Europe along the rivers.

To increase the capacity of its port, Rotterdam needed more depth in its waters and a solid infrastructure for the operation of these new ports. With this aim, the Europoort complex grew along the Maas River. The extension of Europoort began in 1957 and the harbour complex and industrial zones were created between Rotterdam and the opening to the North Sea. New sand docks, deposits and lands of earth gained to the sea were created, where the oil, storage terminal ports and electrical plants are located.

The longest port is 8ste Petroleum haven, which is located outside the Dutch coast and it is the place where the oil tankers are unloaded. In the petroleum terminal Maasvlakte there are, in addition to diverse petroleum companies, the tanks for the storage of petroleum. These enormous tanks have a capacity of more than one million litres.

Another great area of the port is the Missisippihaven, where there is located a big terminal for load an unload mineralsIn the EECV terminal, located in the Caland canal, the bigger grain cargo vessels can berth and have their maintenance services.

The Europoort region is the busiest zone of Europe for the movement of merchandise. The enormous terminals located here are mainly dedicated to the handling of minerals. The coal terminal used to distribute coal to Europe is also used to provide fuel to the electrical power station of Maasvlakte. Aside from industrial materials, the movement of other merchandise is also important to the port, and these are transported in large containers. Most of the containers are transferred to the Europe Combined Terminals (ECT) where automated cranes and computerised trucks take care of their handling, with the minimum human intervention.

The great amount of merchandise, more than 300 million cubical tons a year, which passes through Rotterdam, gives the port of Europoort its name, Door of Europe.