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The network of inland container terminals continues to expand. The terminals are the extension of the
port of Rotterdam. Not only do they make the shippers' work easier, they also increase efficiency
in Rotterdam and contribute to a more sustainable port.
Container transshipment company ECT now has six inland terminals at its disposal outside the port of
Rotterdam: in Moerdijk, Amsterdam, Venlo, Duisburg (Germany), Willebroek and Avelgem (both in Belgium).
They all bear the 'extended gate' designation and are really the advance guard of the stevedore's deep-sea
terminals in the port of Rotterdam. The terminals in Amsterdam, Moerdijk and Duisburg
are served by inland navigation and rail. Currently, Venlo is connected with Rotterdam by rail only but will
soon also get inland waterway services. The other terminals ?merely? have frequent inland waterway
connections.
The transshipment of containers at ECT has grown again during the past year - by no less than
25 per cent. More than 90,000 containers are handled in the City and Delta terminals every week.
Therefore, far from being a luxury, the six extended gates are an absolute necessity for efficiently
processing the vast flow of containers. The same services are available to customers in the extended
locations as in Rotterdam. Transporting containers over water and by rail avoids a lot of freight traffic in the
Rotterdam port area.
ECT is certainly not the only one to collect cargo from and deliver cargo to the hinterland, outside the
port of Rotterdam. New terminals are shooting up like mushrooms. Beer producer Heineken, that ships
all export beer via Rotterdam, has recently started using the Alpherium, a new inland waterway terminal
in Alphen aan den Rijn, close to the Zoeterwoude brewery.
The new terminal is run by the Van Uden Group. The purchase of the necessary land by the Port of
Rotterdam Authority was an important catalyst. Van Uden is also hatching plans for a large terminal in
Haaften, at a crossroads of important north-south and east-west road connections.
By transporting the export cargo by inland waterway, Heineken is saving around six million truck kilometres
annually, thereby reducing its CO2 emissions by 35 per cent. In the long term, the brewer is also
counting on financial benefits as costs for road transportation increase.
Purchasing land for a new inland navigation terminal is something that the RPA has already done before, in
Wanssum in Northern Limburg. The Port Authority will also purchase land for the container transshipment
site that it wishes to realise in Alblasserdam. Currently, the RPA is studying similar projects in the
Benelux, in Germany and on the axis toward Central Europe.
The objective is shifting as much container cargo as possible from the road to rail routes and inland
waterways, thereby making the transportation of goods more sustainable. To this end, the RPA also
cooperates closely with the Vereniging van Inland Terminal Operators-VITO. It even is envisaged that the
hinterland terminals will obtain a quality certification. The quality system will allow shippers and logistics
service providers to easily gain insight into the quality and added value of the Dutch inland waterway
terminals. Stevedore Binnenlandse Container Terminals Nederland-BCTN, with terminals in Den Bosch,
Nijmegen, Wanssum and Twente, also wishes to cut its CO2 emissions by 17 per cent on its own operations as of 2012.
But Van Uden and Heineken are not the only ones to transport container cargo to or from Rotterdam over
water. Road transporter Groeneboom from Ridderkerk has stopped transporting containers through the
A15 motorway since 2008, instead using its own container transshipment site in Ridderkerk. Its
transshipment figures have grown spectacularly in 2010.
Groeneboom started transporting containers over water as it feared increasing congestion on the
A15 motorway due to road works in coming years to increase capacity between the Vaanplein and Maasvlakte.
Logistics service provider Koninklijke Rotra has recently announced to start developing a container terminal
near its own location in Doesburg. Rotra wants to handle all its transportation to and from the port of
Rotterdam via inland waterway through that terminal.
Philips Lighting is also putting a heavier accent on the inland waterway: since recently, all export containers
are shipped over water from the Philips distribution centre in Roosendaal via Moerdijk to the port of
Rotterdam. These are around 600 containers annually. This modal shift from the road saves the group 80,000 road
kilometres and avoids 200 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The modal shift by Philips is the result of a test carried
out jointly with Maersk Line and the RPA.
Photo Port of Rotterdam Authority
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