EUROPE

No room for complacency

21 years ago

Gazing into the future of the trade from a terminal capacity perspective, Drewrys ports director Neil Davidson told PS: ” Our analysis of supply and demand at the major North European deepsea container ports including UK, shows that even with the new developments which we definitely know are coming on stream, e. g. Deurganckdok in Antwerp, Port 2000 at Le Havre, Rotterdams Euromax, etc, average utilisation levels will still reach almost 90% by 2010. Plus of course, within this, certain ports and terminals are more intensively used than others.

“So,” warns Davidson, “whilst this year congestion has eased due to both the strenuous efforts of the terminal operators to optimise capacity, and the easing of the rate of demand growth, there is no room for complacency. Beyond 2010 more projects will have to come forward, and more of the currently unconfirmed expansion plans will have to become more concrete.

“The key ports will remain the focus of the pressure, e. g. Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Bremerhaven. However, this at the same time creates opportunities for ports such as Zeebrugge and Amsterdam.

“The UK could also face problems if London Gateway and the other proposed project don’t get the go-ahead (final go-ahead in the case of London Gateway). However, at the same time, if all of the proposed schemes in the UK got the green light, there would be the potential for huge over-capacity.”