Ivo Opstelten News

Chinese companies are interested to participate in the building and exploitation of the Second Maasvlakte. Construction company Shanghai Construction is interested in joining a consortium to realize the project while China Shipping CL eyes on operating its own container terminal. The Dutch transport paper Nieuwsblad Transport reported this. Rotterdam Mayor Ivo Opstelten is now heading a business delegation in Shanghai and his spokesman confirmed the message as such. He stressed however that Rotterdam first has to come to terms with the Dutch government. The final result of this will decide whether other parties can join in and finally are prepared to do so.

At 303.9 million tons, cargo throughput in the port of Rotterdam in 1999 fell by 3.5 percent. This decrease is less than the 3.7 percent in the first half-year, but is a downturn compared with the top year of 1998 when 314.8 million tons were handled. The volumes of container cargo, grain and animal feed, scrap metal, and other liquid bulk cargo increased considerably this year. However, this did not compensate for the decrease in imports of ore, or the throughput of crude oil and coal. The tonnage of other general cargo (pallets, bags, boxes, big bags) also underwent a further decline, with the exception of fruit and vegetables. The Mayor of Rotterdam…