The port of Rotterdam suffered a slight setback in the first nine months of 2025. A total of 320.2 million tons were handled – 2.6% less than in the same period last year (328.9 million tons).
This was mainly due to lower volumes of iron ore and petroleum products. The dry bulk segment shrank by 5.6%. The decline in the handling of iron ore (-12.7%) and scrap (-2.9 million tons) had a particularly negative impact on the balance sheet. The Dutch port authority cites weak German steel production as the reason for this, which continued in the third quarter. Hard coal throughput fell by 5.3%, while demand for energy coal increased – particularly in the Netherlands and Germany, where the higher demand for electricity could not be covered by wind and solar energy at times. Agribulk grew by 16.8% thanks to a new terminal.
Rotterdam recorded a 3.4% drop in liquid bulk to 146.4 million tons. Mineral oil products fell by 17.2% (-7.3 million tons), mainly due to so-called “backwardation”, which made storage unattractive. By contrast, crude oil and LNG increased – the latter by 14.9 %, as Europe’s gas stocks were replenished in the summer. The handling of renewable fuels, in particular ethanol and SAF, also increased.
Container traffic, on the other hand, showed a stable development: at 10.7 million TEU, the increase was 3%, but slightly negative in terms of tonnage (-0.6%). Traffic between Asia and Europe grew by 8.8%, while the transatlantic route grew by as much as 14.6%.
The general cargo segment remained almost unchanged at 24.0 million tons (+0.2 %). RoRo throughput stagnated (-0.1%), while other general cargo increased by 1.1% to 4.6 million tons – partly due to monopiles and steel pipes for offshore projects such as Porthos.
“The developments in containers and renewable fuels show the resilience of the port,” explained CEO Boudewijn Siemons. “At the same time, the European industry remains under enormous pressure.”
