Inland shipping fights back
Rotterdam reports major modal gain in hinterland container volumes
Last year, inland shipping strengthened its position in the hinterland transport of containers, as its share in the modal split of the port of Rotterdam rose from 30% to 33%.
The last time such a large gain was recorded was in the previous century, said the port.
Rail transport declined from 13% to 11% and is back at the 2006 level. Road transport fell from 57% to 56%.
Total volumes of hinterland transport declined 12% from 7.83 million teu in 2008 to 6.86 million teu in 2009.
Rail transported 755,000teu, down 25% on 2008, while barges moved 2.27 million teu, 3% less than in 2008, and truck volumes dropped 14% from 4.47 million teu to 3.84 million teu.
The port reported that rail transport did not want to adapt, or could not adapt its tariffs, fast enough to arrest the declining total volume. Betuwe Route tariffs, for example, were lowered only late in 2009.
It said: “Inland shipping and trucking are more flexible in their tariffs when there is an oversupply in transport capacity. Besides that, inland shipping took advantage of the improved handling capacity at the deepsea terminals.
“Road transport suffered relatively more of the crisis because it transports the vast majority of the ro-ro containers. This intra-European traffic was hit harder by the economic decline.”
The port said the future growth of container handling would take place at the large terminals in the western part of the port, when, from 2013, terminals at Maasvlakte 2 come into operation. Here and at the present Maasvlakte, the goal is to realise a modal split in 2035 of inland shipping 45%, rail 20% and road 35%.
The last time such a large gain was recorded was in the previous century, said the port.
Rail transport declined from 13% to 11% and is back at the 2006 level. Road transport fell from 57% to 56%.
Total volumes of hinterland transport declined 12% from 7.83 million teu in 2008 to 6.86 million teu in 2009.
Rail transported 755,000teu, down 25% on 2008, while barges moved 2.27 million teu, 3% less than in 2008, and truck volumes dropped 14% from 4.47 million teu to 3.84 million teu.
The port reported that rail transport did not want to adapt, or could not adapt its tariffs, fast enough to arrest the declining total volume. Betuwe Route tariffs, for example, were lowered only late in 2009.
It said: “Inland shipping and trucking are more flexible in their tariffs when there is an oversupply in transport capacity. Besides that, inland shipping took advantage of the improved handling capacity at the deepsea terminals.
“Road transport suffered relatively more of the crisis because it transports the vast majority of the ro-ro containers. This intra-European traffic was hit harder by the economic decline.”
The port said the future growth of container handling would take place at the large terminals in the western part of the port, when, from 2013, terminals at Maasvlakte 2 come into operation. Here and at the present Maasvlakte, the goal is to realise a modal split in 2035 of inland shipping 45%, rail 20% and road 35%.
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