As container terminals begin operations at the new Maasvlakte 2 complex at the Port of Rotterdam, the Port continues to move more and more containers off roads and on to inland shipping, according to a Port of Rotterdam official. Minco van Heezen, Port of Rotterdam press officer, told AJOT that 48% of all shipments-including ores and containers- are now transported on inland shipping and not on roads and rail. He says the Port projects trucking to account for only 35% of shipment moves by 2030. Dutch trucking companies support development of inland terminals so as to avoid delays and congestion at major Rotterdam container terminals. Containers are picked up and delivered by inland waterway vessels at the main container terminals and transported to inland terminals along the Rhine River in the Netherlands as well as to Germany and beyond. Truckers deliver and pick up at distances that are far less than traveling to main terminals at the Port of Rotterdam, van Heezen says. Van Heezen notes the Port has supported construction of inland terminals in the past. He says that inland shipping accounts “for 48% of the total volume, that’s also coal, etc. We’re not just a container port, we’re a general multi-purpose port. We’re doing everything. In almost every commodity, we’re number 1 or number 2 in Europe. So coal, oil, minerals, everything. Agriculture products are important.” Van Heezen says that the number of inland terminals is on the rise: “Inland shipping could grow like it grew because the network in the terminals became denser and denser and denser, both in the Netherlands and further away. When I started working here, they said inland shipping is only economically viable at distances more than 250-300 kilometers, so that’s already rather far into Germany.” Today dense road traffic has made inland shipping profitable at a distance of 30 kilometers rather than 250 kilometers: “you’re building inland terminals to move your containers by water 30 or 40 kilometers away,” from the center of Rotterdam. Van Heezen says a significant factor is that trucking companies have driven the development of inland ports: “a lot of those inland terminals and especially the first ones were initiated by road haulers….trucking companies.” He says that inland terminals located closer to customers and end users and further away from the main container terminals allow truckers to make faster pick ups and deliveries which saves truckers time and money: “Their motive in doing that was, you know those guys are smart… they feel the constant pressure of margin diminishing. So they constantly pressed to improve and to think about the future… they’re constantly calculating and they’re used to seeing time as money. An inland vessel changes as well but was not seen operated, as time is money. You know they were just chugged along. But now like I said it changes, but a lot of the measurements we tried to stimulate, they are based on the fact that you can save time. If you could save time with a faster turnaround by using this container transfer (by water) especially when for example there’s a traffic jam or congestion at the (main container) terminals you can make a calculation and say ok drop it here return to the base and then you can use a truck again the same day, maybe even twice.” Van Heezen said the system had received European Union subsidies in the past to help develop the inland terminals network: “There used to be a special subsidy approved by the European Union for intermodal transport. So you could get a subsidy to make a tri-modal terminal. But in general, we as port management are not in the subsidy spheres. We have the policy that the market has to do the work. But if necessary, then we are prepared to buy the ground, the terrain of the terminal…. But you know, money is cheap … at this moment the rates are so low, they don’t need us anymore.” The result is the Port would buy the land and build the quays “and then somebody can come in and put the cranes on.” He said that there are currently about “35 inland terminals in the Netherlands …And dozens in Germany and Belgium and France.” A typical inland waterway terminal might process “a range of 15,000 to 100,000 (containers) per year.” Van Heezen said that Heineken, the beer manufacturer, “took the initiative years…and years ago” and set up an inland facility about 45 kilometers from Rotterdam. Otherwise, “Heineken would not have the possibility to develop anymore. Maybe even have to end this business because America was its most profitable market. So they said we have to take precautionary measures and develop our inland shipping connection with Rotterdam. They’ve thought about rail, by the way, instead of it, but at that moment it was not ideal. So they decided to make an inland terminal.” Rail, he explained was more expensive to develop than an inland waterway terminal.