Rotterdam alone accounted for more than 9% of the total tonnage of seabourne goods handled in the EU countries in 2013. The Netherlands remained, since 2010, the largest maritime freight transport country in Europe. At 548 million tonnes, the volume of seaborne goods handled in Dutch ports in 2013 represented 14.8 % of the EU-28 total.

The volumes of goods and passengers passing through EU ports remained more or less stable from 2012 to 2013, with a 0.6 % decrease in the total gross weight of goods and a 0.5 % increase in the number of seaborne passengers. The total gross weight of goods handled in EU ports is estimated at 3.7 billion tonnes in 2013. Despite the slight decrease in the seaborne tonnage compared with 2012, there are signs of a renewed recovery in EU port freight activity. Even so, the gross weight of goods handled in the EU-28 ports in 2013 was still lower than the volumes handled before the economic downturn in Europe in 2009.

Netherlands/Rotterdam
The Netherlands remained the largest maritime freight transport country in Europe in 2013, while Rotterdam, Antwerpen and Hamburg maintained their positions as the three largest ports. The 20 largest ports accounted for about 38 % of the total tonnage of goods handled in the countries reporting data in 2013. Rotterdam alone accounted for more than 9% of the total tonnage.The Netherlands has recorded the largest tonnage of maritime freight transport in Europe since 2010. At 548 million tonnes, the volume of seaborne goods handled in Dutch ports in 2013 represented 14.8 % of the EU-28 total. The Netherlands was followed by the United Kingdom and Italy, with shares of 13.5 % and 12.3 % of the EU total, respectively. Behind these three, Spain remained the fourth largest and France the fifth largest EU maritime freight transport countries.

Incoming cargo
Inward movements of goods to the EU-28 countries decreased by 1.2 % in 2013, but still accounted for more than 60 % of the total tonnage of goods handled in the EU ports. Liquid bulk goods, such as crude oil and oil products, made up a substantial proportion of the inward tonnage. In the majority of EU countries, more seaborne goods are unloaded than loaded in ports. Malta and the Netherlands had the highest shares of total tonnage unloaded in 2013, both countries recording more than 70 % of the total tonnage of seaborne goods as inward movements to their ports.

Bulk goods
Liquid bulk goods accounted for 38 % of the total tonnage of cargo handled in the main EU ports in 2013, followed by dry bulk goods, containerised goods and Ro-Ro mobile units. The largest tonnage of liquid bulk goods were handled in the Netherlands (262 million tonnes), followed by the United Kingdom (197 million tonnes) and Italy (193 million tonnes). Estonia recorded the highest share of liquid bulk goods as a percentage of the total tonnage handled in its main ports (65 %), reflecting large volumes of oil products moved outward to the United States. With 139 million tonnes, Dutch ports also handled the largest tonnage of dry bulk goods in the EU in 2013. Even so, the dry bulk tonnage handled in the Netherlands was lower than the 154 million tonnes recorded by the candidate country Turkey.

Containers
Containers were the dominant type of cargo handled by Germany (44 %) and Belgium (40 %) in 2013. The largest tonnage of containerised goods was handled in German and Spanish ports (130 million tonnes and 126 million tonnes, respectively). The share of Ro-Ro units in the total tonnage of goods was highest for Denmark (27 %), Sweden (27 %) and Ireland (26 %). However, in tonnage terms, the United Kingdom (95 million tonnes) and Italy (84 million tonnes) recorded the largest quantities of goods transported on Ro-Ro mobile units in 2013.

Ports
Rotterdam, Antwerpen and Hamburg, all located on the North Sea coast, consolidated their positions as Europe’s top three ports for the gross weight of goods handled in 2013. They also kept their positions in terms of volume of containers handled.In 2013, the 20 largest ports accounted for 38 % of the total tonnage of goods handled in the reporting countries, a slight increase from 2012. The Dutch port of Rotterdam alone accounted for more than 9% of the total tonnage. Compared with 2012, the total tonnage of goods handled in Europe’s largest port increased slightly in 2013 (+0.3 %). However, within the total tonnage passing through Rotterdam in 2013, a substantial increase was recorded in the volumes of dry bulk goods (+17 %), while the tonnage recorded for other types of cargo fell. Among the other top 20 cargo ports, both Antwerpen in Belgium and Hamburg in Germany reported increases in the total volume of goods handled in 2013 (+4.5 % and +6.2 %, respectively).

With close to 11 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled in 2013, Rotterdam is also Europe’s largest container port. Hamburg consolidated its position as the second largest container port in Europe with regard to the number of containers by handling more than 9 million TEUs in 2013, followed by Antwerpen with more than 8 million TEUs.

In total, EU seaborne transport increased by 0.4 % from 2012 to 2013. 63 % of this EU-28 seaborne transport of goods was carried out to or from ports outside the EU, making maritime transport by far the most important mode for long distance transport of goods to or from the EU, in tonnage terms.

(1) This article presents the latest statistical data on freight handling and passenger traffic in ports in the European Union (EU), Iceland, Norway, Montenegro and Turkey. It also covers maritie transport flows with the main partner geographical areas, as well as individual results for major European ports. This article contains data for 2013.
Source: Eurostat /European Commission