There is no doubt that the economic jitters that have shaken world markets have also hit the European port sector. Nonetheless European container ports are building for a resurgence in box volumes.By George Lauriat, AJOTAfter years of frantic expansion to keep pace with larger ships and increasing volumes, European container ports are experiencing their first real slowdown with a small measure of relief and greater apprehension over the implications of the global economic crisis. Container ports in North Europe (Le Havre France, to Hamburg & Bremerhaven Germany, and including the English port of Felixstowe) for the past decade tried to match terminal capacity to increases in both ships and trade. The Asia to Europe route has been traversed by the world’s largest boxships and in recent years outstripped Trans Pacific and Trans Atlantic volumes. However over the past four months the global economic downturn has now even impacted this route. The long-term impact of the dissolution of shipping conferences also has contributed to the uncertainty in the box business. Europe’s ports also handle immense amounts of ro/ro, bulks and break bulk cargos. Recently, even these robust sectors have show signs of slowing, partly because of the economic issues and also because of changes in routes. PORT OF AMSTERDAM The Port of Amsterdam is one of North Europe’s fastest growing boxports. Back in 2003, the Port of Amsterdam, known more for its bulk and break bulk handling, had a throughput of less than 50,000 TEUs. In 2007, a mere four years later with the opening of Ceres Paragon notched terminal, the Port topped 370,000 TEUs and unlike many European ports hasn’t reached capacity. In the first half of 2007, box traffic was up 19.4% to 209,928 TEUs. In May, Amsterdam added a third Asia loop, the Grand Alliance (an alliance of Hapag-Lloyd, MISC, NYK and OOCL) EU5. Amsterdam is the EU5’s first port of call in Europe following the 24-day voyage from Shanghai. It then calls on Hamburg and Southampton, before returning to the Far East. With the addition of EU5 initial estimates were that the Port would hit 450,000 TEUs for 2008. With the downturn these expectations have been scaled back. Nevertheless, the first half figures for the port area (Ports of Amsterdam, IJmuiden, Velsen Beverwijk and Zaanstad) were very strong. Exports in the Amsterdam Port Area rose by 21% to 14.3 million tons, while imports increased by 1.4% to 33.3 million tons. The Port Vision 2008-2020 policy document forecasts an annual growth of 5% for the Port of Amsterdam during that timeframe. With the anticipation of continued cargo growth greater access to the Port is necessary and the construction of a second sea lock in IJmuiden is being studied. In another development, effective July 1, 2009, the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam will have one joint port community system that will combine the two current systems - Port infolink in Rotterdam and PortNET in Amsterdam. Via one port community system, the new organization will offer customers of the two ports an exchange of data both between them and with the port authorities and Customs. PORT OF ANTWERP The Port of Antwerp traditionally has been one of the balanced ports in Europe with imports and exports nearly equal over a wide range of commodities and services. Like Amsterdam, the Port of Antwerp had a very strong first half. During the half the Port of Antwerp handled more than 96 million tons of freight, an increase of better than 8% over 2007. Container throughput hit to 4,434,400 TEUs, up 10.4%. Box volumes at the new Deurganck dock facility rose 39% compared with last year. Additionally, the industrial action in the Port of Le Havre resulted in additional trade being diverted to Antwerp. Ro/ro volumes increased by nearly 4% as auto volumes rose by 5.7%, with 506,501 cars being loaded or in the first half. The amount of bulk freight passing through Antwerp rose by 9.2% in the first half of 2008. The increase is largely due to the growth in volume of