Rotterdam, Antwerp 2012 breakbulk cargo volumes down on weak steel market

Breakbulk cargo volumes handled by both Antwerp in Belgium and Rotterdam in the Netherlands fell year-on-year in 2012 as steel volumes were affected by the weak European market, according to port authorities.

Paragraph entered by Atlantic migration, in order for SteelFirst articles to display correctly on Metal Bulletin.

Provisional figures show that the Port of Antwerp saw a drop of 14.9% year-on-year in conventional breakbulk volumes to 10.8 million tonnes.

“The result is mainly due to the fall in steel handled, which reflects the current market conditions,” the port authority said.

Total freight handled in Antwerp in 2012 was down by 1.8% year-on-year to 183.8 million tonnes, the provisional figures show, with dry bulk expected to fall by 0.4% compared with 2011, to 19.01 million tonnes.

Final data on the amount of freight handled, expected later this month, will give more details on the drop in steel volumes, a spokeswoman for the Belgian port said.

The Port of Rotterdam reported provisional data showing a fall of 5% year-on-year in breakbulk volumes to 24 million tonnes for January-December 2012, mainly due to “the greatly reduced import of steel”.

Total dry bulk figures are also expected to be down by 9.6% year-on-year to 79 million tonnes, mainly due to an 11.7% fall in the amounts of of iron ore and scrap handled.

“In the dry-bulk market segment, declining steel production in Europe was responsible for reduced throughput, especially of ore,” Hans Smits, the Port of Rotterdam’s president and ceo said.

However, total freight throughput at Rotterdam in 2012 is estimated to be up by 1.7% year-on-year to 442 million tonnes, principally owing to rises in volumes of crude oil and oil products.

What to read next
US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on imports of steel products into the US has generated a strong reaction in the EU, with market sources expecting a domino effect and a subsequent trade war, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday February 11.
This price is part of the Fastmarkets Scrap package. For more information on our North America Ferrous Scrap methodology and specifications please click here. To get in touch about access to this price assessment, please contact customer.success@fastmarkets.com.
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the load port of its hard coking coal and pulverized coal injection (PCI) spot prices, fob DBCT, to fob eastern Australian ports, from the current basis of Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, Australia.
Currently, its suite of consumer stainless scrap assessments settle on the 10th of each calendar month in line with the publication deadline of the US ferrous scrap settlement. North American ferrous scrap prices settle on or before the 10th of the month, per Fastmarkets’ methodology, which can be found here. US domestic ferrous markets are taking […]
The photovoltaic (PV) solar power industry is continuing to evolve, but demand for gallium as a doping element in silicon-based PV cells is gradually declining, market participants told Fastmarkets early in 2025.
There’s broad agreement that DeepSeek has upended the artificial intelligence (AI) sector by developing a cutting-edge large language model that uses less computational power, but whether improved AI efficiency cuts demand for copper in the data centers used to power it is a matter of debate.