Uncertainty of Russia-Ukraine crisis to impact operations- Port of Rotterdam

Port of Rotterdam handles around 470 million mt of transhipment annually, of which 62 million mt or 13% volume comes from Russia.

PHOTO: Aerial view of the Europoort area in the Port of Rotterdam

A substantial amount of energy imports from Russia is shipped via Rotterdam port, of which 30% accounts to Russian crude oil, 25% of LNG and 20% of oil products and coal, in addition to metals such as steel, copper, aluminum and nickel, the Port of Rotterdam said in a statement.

Import of crude oil, oil products, LNG, metals and coal is still not (yet) brought under the list of sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU), however, exports and transhipment of Russian containers have largely been affected due to the uncertainty caused by the development in Ukraine and the evolving sanctions.

A lack of clarity of what is covered under sanctions, how the conflict is developing, and the payment risk has pushed various container terminals and shipping companies to avoid handling containers bound to or from Russia, says Port of Rotterdam.

In the near term, Rotterdam port expects delays in container operations as custom approvals gets stringent due to multiple inspections.

Roughly around 10% of Rotterdam’s container volume is related to Russia.