Amsterdam angst
The rumour mill is buzzing that with Rotterdam experiencing container congestion problems off the back of strong container growth, NYK, part owner of the Ceres Paragon Terminal in Amsterdam, is increasing the pressure on its partners in the Grand Alliance to make use of the Paragon Terminal. The innovative terminal has lain largely unused since it was opened and, to the amazement of some, ever since NYKs acquisition of the Ceres Terminal group around two years ago.
NYK has apparently secured the support of the other Grand Alliance members OOCL and MISC regarding using the terminal but not of P&O Nedlloyd which sees potential disruption to intermodal rail and other inland services as a negative.
However, with bodies such as the Dutch shippers’ council, EVO, urging the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam to settle their differences and to work together to solve container congestion problems, there appears to be a question mark as to how long P&O Nedlloyd can hold out on its own. There is also a question mark over its motivation for putting up resistance – not wishing to undermine the viability of its new Euromax container terminal, scheduled to be completed in late 2007, being identified as one other factor that might be influential.
If, however, a move to Paragon is finally pursued two Grand Alliance Europe-Asia services that deploy smaller tonnage, loops A and E, have been identified as strong candidates to use the Amsterdam facility.
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