The Port of Rotterdam had both good news and bad news this month. On the one hand, the largest port in Europe achieved significant progress in its efforts to lower its CO2 emissions. On the other hand, however, the port's container throughput witnessed an 11.6% decline during the first quarter.

But, the good news first. In 2022, Rotterdam Port succeeded in cutting 1 mtonne of carbon emissions from industry and power plants located in its area, announced the port in a statement. This marks a progress of 4.2% compared to 2021, bringing emissions back to 2020 levels.

According to the port, last year’s high gas prices played a key role in this achievement. Chemical plants and industrial gas producers, who were forced to cut back on their production due to the price hikes, emitted 16% less CO2 than in 2021.

“CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants increased by 6% (+0.3 Mtonne). However, this was more than offset by a 16% drop in emissions by the gas-fired power plants (-0.4 Mtonne),” explained the port.

To meet the decarbonisation ambitions of the Netherlands and the EU – which call for a 55% reduction by 2030 vs. 1990 levels - the port needs to reduce its CO2 emissions by 13.2 mtonnes every year. The port’s authority has been cooperating with partners to achieve this goal.

Two weeks later, the port revealed that the elimination of container volumes from Russia over the past year significantly affected throughput. Q1 – 2023 figures show that containers handled at the port during this period dropped to 3.2 million TEU, an 11.6% decrease compared to Q1 - 2022.

“As the war in Ukraine only began in late February, the impact on throughput volumes in the first quarter of last year was still limited,” wrote the port explaining the heightened figures this year. In addition to geopolitical reasons, the port noted that the -14.2% decline in Asian imports further influenced throughput figures this quarter.