History The muddy estuary (rotta) of the Maas River became a settlement in the 10th century CE. A few hundred years later, a dam was built in the rotta, giving the fledgling seaport its name: Rotterdam. By the 14th century the Rotterdam Schie, or shipping canal, had been fully dredged, giving birth to what would one day become the world’s most important shipping port (“A History of the Port of Rotterdam,” 2015).

Rotterdam immediately gained traction as a pivotal shipping destination because of its strategic location linking England with not just the Netherlands but also the rest of Europe. Trade routes boomed during the Age of Exploration and Imperialism, boosting the significance of Rotterdam especially as the Dutch East India Company dominated global trade.

During the Industrial Age, Rotterdam suffered a major setback as the rotte, its naturally muddy estuary, proved too shallow for high tech industrial barges. The city of Rotterdam responded immediately to the crisis by constructing a new waterway, or Nieuwe Waterweg, by 1872 (“A History of the Port of Rotterdam,” 2015). Crisis averted, the Nieuwe Waterweg helped retain the Rotterdam’s status as one of the world’s most important shipping ports. Seamless connections on rail and river ensured Rotterdam would become the world’s largest port, a position it occupied for much of the 20th century.

With the Nieuwe Waterweg, the Port of Rotterdam also bolstered shipping ties with the rest of Europe. Since the Industrial Age, the Port of Rotterdam has made successive improvements to the depth and stability of the Nieuwe Waterweg to enable it to accommodate newer and different sized vessels. In the 1960s, Rotterdam commenced construction on the Gate to Europe (Europoort) complex. Completed in the 1970s, the Europoort also entailed massive land reclamation projects that displaced sand banks to allow for the largest possible shipping vessels in the world (“A History of the Port of Rotterdam,” 2015). Called the Maasvlakte, the massive new shipping port recently received a sister port simply called Maasvlakte 2. Improved rail and road connections also helped Rotterdam retain its reputation for reliability and shipping capacity.

Current Status and Competition

By the time the Maasvlakte 2 was completed in 2013 Rotterdam had lost its superlative status as the world’s largest shipping port. However, the Maasvlakte 2 proves Rotterdam’s commitment to remaining the largest shipping port in Europe and still one of the globe’s most important. Currently outpaced by both Shanghai and Singapore, Rotterdam is still the largest in Europe and third largest in the world not just in terms of its footprint but also in terms of throughput. The Port of Rotterdam currently occupies about 105 square kilometers, or 41 square miles. Throughput numbers in 2014 were at about 445 million tonnes of cargo, ranking Rotterdam 8th in the world. Those numbers actually increased in 2016, when the Port of Rotterdam saw more than 461 million tonnes of dry bulk, liquid bulk, containers, and breakbulk pass through the Maasvlakte and Massvlakte 2 (Port of Rotterdam, 2016, “Facts and Figures”). The Port of Rotterdam has more than 20 moorages, over 120 bulwarks, 29 tugboat facilities, six pilot boat facilities, 95 liquid and dry cargo depots, moorage for cruise liners and also for vessels navigating internally (Karan, 2016).

Major competitors to Rotterdam started to emerge by the late 1980s, when Singapore and Shanghai rose to ascension as global shipping ports. Although Rotterdam remains number one in Europe, followed by regional rivals only like Antwerp and Hamberg, it is China that presents the most significant competition. Of the top ten shipping ports in the world based on throughput tonnage, seven...

Singapore ranks third in the world. The only other non-Chinese shipping port to make the top ten in throughout is Port Hedland in Western Australia, mainly because of its being the hub for mining and other raw materials output.
Although competition for throughput and containers (TEU) remains strong and will only become more contentious, Rotterdam has little to worry about in terms of attracting global investors. The main reason why Rotterdam remains ahead of the competition in Europe and contends with China worldwide is its infrastructure. Five times in a row, the World Economic Forum has named Port of Rotterdam the best in the world for sites and terminals such as refineries, utilities, containers, and storage (Port of Rotterdam, 2016, “Facts and Figures”). Rather than focusing on throughput quantity, Rotterdam remains dedicated to quality.

Strategy: Logistics, Transportation, Storage

Since the early 20th century, Rotterdam has built its port around the burgeoning oil industry. Oil and petroleum products, primarily liquid, remain the core cargo throughput. Crude oil, mineral oil, liquid natural gas, and other liquid bulk comprises more than 200 million tonnes per year. Dry bulk including iron ore, scrap, coal, agribulk, and other general bulk raw materials and containers comprise most of the remainder of Rotterdam’s throughput (Port of Rotterdam, 2016, “Facts and Figures”). Oil and chemical processing fuel the Port of Rotterdam’s business, logistics, and supply chain strategies. Due to its solidification as a reliable and strategic port authority, and its geographic location, Rotterdam has developed Europe’s most diversified and advanced cluster of oil and chemical refineries and distribution networks (Hurenkamp, 2017). Virtually all petrochemical clusters are represented in Rotterdam including olefins, aromatics, polyurethane, polyester, and chlorine (Hurenkamp, 2017).

Rotterdam has access to not just train, road, and river shipping passageways that link the port to the entire European contient, but also 1500 kilometers of liquid bulk pipelines (Hurenkamp, 2017). The natural setting of the port has enabled it to grow from the muddy estuary it was a thousand years ago to one that has capacity for deep sea vessels as well as shortsea/feeder vessels, direct lock-free access, and zero draft restrictions (Hurenkamp, 2017). According to Hurenkamp (2017), Rotterdam boasts four “world-scale” oil refineries, as well as “more than 40 (petro)chemical companies, 3 industrial gas producers and 13 major tank storage and distribution companies in the port area,” (p. 1). With unparalleled processing facilities, logistics and transportation networks, chemical feedstock, plant, and storage facilities, Rotterdam remains critical to Europe’s overall infrastructure. Logistics infrastructure is internal, with immediate access to feeder services.

Enhancing its transportation logistics, Rotterdam also boasts the best possible options for storage, warehousing, and distribution. The oil and chemical clusters at Rotterdam include both private producer-built and managed storage facilities but also independent and third party storage for oil and chemicals. The diversification of the oil and chemical port storage sector attracts new investors and expands opportunities for supply and distribution. Total storage capacity for bulk liquids alone is currently at 30 million cubic meters, including not just crude and mineral oils like gasoline, diesel, kerosene and naphtha, but also edible oils (Hurenkamp, 2017). Of course, Rotterdam offers opportunities for storage of both hazardous and non-hazardous bulk and manufactured goods. Hazardous goods storage…