more goods entering seaports, larger ships

The volume of goods arriving in Dutch seaports rose by 24 percent between 2000 and 2013. Last year, 388 million tonnes of goods arrived by sea, mostly bulk and container goods. The number of ships entering Dutch ports rose by 5 percent. Seaports are handling larger and larger vessels. The increase in scale in sea shipping is especially visible in the transport of dry bulk and container transport.

Goods arriving in seaports by cargo

Substantial increase in container transport

The weight of goods arriving in containers rose by 128 percent from 2000 to 2013. The main cargo of goods docked in seaports is liquid bulk, around half of which is crude petroleum. The volume of liquid bulk rose by a quarter in this period.
The volume of dry bulk accounts for around one third of total sea imports and has remained fairly constant since 2000. Coal accounts for the largest part of dry bulk entering Dutch seaports.

Weight of goods arriving per docked ship 

Larger container and bulk carriers

The increase in average cargo weight per docked ship indicates the increasing size of freight ships. For container transport, the weight has more than doubled since 2000. The number of containers unloaded per docking rose more slowly, by 75 percent. The average transported weight per container is still rising.

The volume of bulk goods transhipped per docking has risen by 21 thousand tonnes since 2000. On average, just over 66 thousand tonnes of goods are transhipped per docking. The volume of bulk goods arriving per docked ship rose by less. The transhipped weight per ship has risen by 9 percent since 2000.