Trade volumes at Rotterdam fell in the first half of the year, port authorities there said on Thursday, saying slower emerging markets and growing Brexit-related uncertainty affected traffic.
Lying at the mouth of the Rhine valley, the world's fourth largest port, and Europe's biggest, is a bellwether for the European economy as it is the main conduit by which the output of Germany's southern industrial heartlands reaches the world's consumers.
Rotterdam had also benefited from British growth in the first half, with roll-on-roll-off traffic up, both because of higher industrial output in Britain and because the refugee crisis around Calais had led shippers to avoid the French port.
Dry bulk volumes fell by 9.9 percent, partly driven by collapsing scrap metal throughput, itself the result of reduced demand from European steelmakers who have cut output in the face of Chinese competition.
Slowing far eastern demand also made itself felt in the container trade, where volumes slipped 2.3 percent because of lower demand from Brazil and China. Exports to sanctions-hit Russia were also lower.
Although the port said it had strengthened its market-leading position in the Le Havre-Hamburg range of north European ports, it warned that an uncertain political and economic environment made the future hard to predict.
"A variety of factors lead to uncertainty," the port said, listing "Brexit and increasing protectionism" and "a lack of clarity regarding the shape of the energy transition" among the factors that cast a shadow over the future.
A major refining and hydrocarbon import hub, the port is exposed to shifts in energy policy. Liquid bulk slipped 1.1 percent in the first half, although oil throughput remained at a historic high.

Source: Arab News