DUTCH DATA: H1 crude oil throughput at Rotterdam up on Russian exports to India

Throughput of crude oil at the Port of Rotterdam rose 4.3% to 52.561 million mt in the first half of the year, mainly due to Russian oil flows through Rotterdam, in particular to India, the port said July 21.

With refineries in Northwest Europe switching to non-Russian oil, Russian oil is finding its way to other markets, the port said.

Oil product throughput fell 9.4% to 27.816 million mt in the period, mainly due to the structural decline in importing and re-exporting fuel oil, the port said. Typically Russian fuel oil has been shipped to Rotterdam and then re-exported.

Exports of Russian feedstocks, such as naphtha, fuel oil and VGO, have been significantly curtailed after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in late February. International buyers have been avoiding Russian-origin products due to sanctions or self-sanctioning.

Liquid bulk throughput at the Port of Rotterdam in the first half of the year rose 4.6% year on year to 105.461 million mt.

LNG throughput in the period rose 45.8% to 5.413 million mt due to "very strong demand for LNG as an alternative to the natural gas entering Europe by pipeline from Russia," the port said.

Europe has increased its LNG imports in recent months and is looking at raising its LNG import capacity in order to cut dependence on Russian pipeline gas imports.

Overall throughput at the Port of Rotterdam over January-June was 233.473 million mt, up 0.8% year on year.

"In many segments, the war in Ukraine led to significant changes," the port said, adding that it had affected imports of both LNG and coal, which rose sharply "as an alternative to reduced European imports of Russian gas by pipeline."

"In anticipation of the sanctions on coal and oil, less Russian coal, crude oil, oil products and LNG were imported in recent months," it said. "Companies are increasingly importing from other countries."

In dry bulk, iron ore and scrap throughput in the first half fell 20.6% to 11.921 million mt, as high energy costs led to lower production by the German steel industry, the port said. Higher energy costs also led to the processing of less agricultural bulk.

Coal throughput for electricity plants rose sharply, resulting in a 29.7% increase in coal throughput at the port to 14.566 million mt.

"Coal is currently cheaper than natural gas and it also reduces dependence on Russian natural gas," the port said.

Other dry bulk saw a 30.1% increase in throughput to 9.02 million mt, which the port described as "striking" and attributed it to "the high prices for the shipping of containers," which resulted in using that way of transportation "in cargo that can also be transported in bulk, such as industrial minerals and fertilisers."

Container throughput dropped due to less container traffic to and from Russia and the ongoing disruption of logistics in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in shipping companies "using smaller ports of call for trans-shipment relatively more often than large ports such as Rotterdam."

The port said that forecasting for the second half of the year was "very difficult", with the the current geopolitical situation "generating numerous uncertainties."

Allard Castelein, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority said that while Europe is "very vulnerable" due to its heavy reliance on Russian energy, "a positive development is that concrete steps have been taken in recent months to make our energy supply more sustainable and to further our energy independence, particularly through investment decisions to build a large biorefinery and Europe's largest green-hydrogen plant."

Throughput of main goods (mil mt)

Source: Port of Rotterdam