Hans Smits also said that Rotterdam port, which already has two joint ventures in Oman, is looking at investing in ports in China and Brazil and expects to announce a deal in either of the two locations by the end of 2011.
Smits has lobbied the Dutch government for months to address infrastructure and other bottlenecks in the Netherlands, particularly in the Rotterdam area, warning that its growth and position as Europe's leading port are under threat.
Rotterdam is a major transit point for commodities, including oil and grains, and manufactured goods. It is also the biggest port for iron ore for the German blast furnaces in the Ruhr region which supply the German auto industry.
The port's annual throughput grew 11 percent to 430 million tonnes in 2010 and it expects cargo volumes to reach 750 million tonnes annually by 2030.
Now Smits wants to acquire land, possibly in a joint venture with the German local authorities, along the Rhine river or alongside the main railroads, so that Rotterdam port could develop feeder points for big containers which cannot easily unload at the port itself.
Big containers would be transported by barge or train to the hubs in Germany and then unloaded into smaller cargoes. The port would invest in the infrastructure and invite investment from private sector companies.
"We will have some investments going on in two or three of these new points" in the next five years, Smits told Reuters in a telephone interview. He said the port had money available to invest, but declined to give a figure.
Smits also said the port wants to become a centre for LNG, biomass and CO2 capture as Europe aims to reduce its carbon emissions to combat climate change.
The Rotterdam area, a major hub for oil, coal and biofuels, produces about 16 percent of the Netherlands' total CO2 emissions, and is counting on carbon capture and storage technology to help it halve emissions in the area by 2025, from 1990 levels.
Smits said the port will invest between 30 and 35 million euros in the construction of a pipeline to handle CO2.
Once the CO2 generated by Germany's coal-fired power plants has been brought by barge to Rotterdam it would be transported via the pipeline to be stored in depleted oil fields in the North Sea.
"I discussed already with some big energy companies in Germany and they are interested because they have a challenge to reduce emissions and they are very interested in shipping it to us," Smits said. (Reuters)
