Port of Amsterdam: 39.8mt handled in H1 2020 (-12% yoy)

Apart from Zaanstad (+15.3% year-on-year to 84kt), other North Sea Canal region ports noted decreases over 2020’s first half, IJmuiden by 3.4% yoy to 8.76m and Beverwijk by 44.3% yoy to 194kt.

Overall, some 48.7mt were handled across the ports, a 10.7% yoy drop on the volume from H1 2019.

Koen Overtoom, CEO, the Port of Amsterdam, commented, "For the first time in years we have seen a reduction in the transshipment in our port, and it is a significant one."

He furthered, "However, we are not pessimistic. In the first half of the year, we have shown in difficult conditions how crucial the port is for the region and for the country. As vital infrastructure, we have continued to manage shipping traffic and to handle cargo flows, without letup. We have thereby contributed to keeping the country and the economy running."

"Our distribution clients in particular have had a strong six months, with the distribution of foodstuffs and packages. The market for transport fuels (petrol, kerosene etc.) is now recovering. It is hard to say what the second half of the year will look like. The fuels market is too fickle for that, and the impact of the coronavirus is uncertain. We do anticipate that in the current conditions the shortfall in volume for the year as a whole, will remain limited to the level that we have seen in the first six months," Overtoom summed up.