January 15 - Ro-ro traffic at the Port of Rotterdam increased 10.1 percent year-on-year in 2015 to 20 million tonnes.
The port said that the strong UK economy played an important role in attracting ro-ro traffic over the North Sea. The crisis in Calais and channel crossing failures also increased the Dutch gateway's ro-ro traffic, said the Port of Rotterdam.
However, other breakbulk cargo decreased by 5.5 percent to 5.7 million tonnes. The port authority attributed this to a flow of incoming container cranes in 2014, which raised the level of breakbulk throughput.
Together, ro-ro and other breakbulk cargo make up the Port of Rotterdam's 'breakbulk' category, which increased by 6.5 percent compared with 2014.
In the dry bulk sector, the throughput of ore and scrap metal fell by 0.6 percent year-on-year to 33.9 million tonnes.
Overall, cargo throughput at Rotterdam increased by 4.9 percent to 466.4 million tonnes in 2015. The port attributed this growth almost entirely to increased volumes of crude oil and oil products.
