Rotterdam is massively expanding its container business

Europe's largest port is massively expanding its capacity for handling containers. The company APM Terminals, one of the world's leading operators of container terminals and subsidiary of the Danish group A.P. Moller-Maersk is expanding its existing terminal by a further two million container units (TEU), on an area of ​​47.5 hectares and with an additional 1000 meters of quayside. The new facility is expected to be operational in the second half of 2026, APM Terminals and the Port of Rotterdam Authority announced on Friday evening. The investment is more than one billion euros.

"We are very pleased that APM Terminals has decided to expand the terminal and choose Rotterdam as the hub for its own Western European activities," said Rotterdam Port Manager Allard Castelein: "This additional terminal capacity will be used for the efficient and sustainable handling of the increasing container volume in the urgently needed in the coming years.” Keith Svendsen, Head of APM Terminals, said: “Our decision to continue investing and expanding on Maasvlakte II underlines the importance of Rotterdam for the global supply chains and for our global network. We are excited about this important project and the opportunities it will open up.”

Above all, Germany's largest seaport, Hamburg, is coming under further pressure. The Hanseatic city has long since lost the competition for the top position in container handling against its two larger competitors, Rotterdam and Antwerp. At the same time, smaller, up-and-coming container ports such as Wilhelmshaven and Gdansk are competing for cargo with Hamburg. Last year, Hamburg had container handling totaling 8.3 million TEU, in Rotterdam it was 14.5 million TEU. In general, the container handling business in Northern Europe is considered to be highly competitive and tense, also because of the multiple crises of the time.

The particular problem for Hamburg is that the terminals in the Maasvlakte II port expansion area in Rotterdam are highly automated and therefore more productive than the four facilities in Germany's largest seaport. APM Terminals on Maasvlakte II was opened in 2015 as a fully automated and CO₂ emission-free facility. The additional area of ​​the terminal is also planned to run with net-zero emissions. The extension is to be fully automated and prepared for the shore power supply of ships.

Hamburg's leading terminal operator HHLA is currently trying to achieve a higher average throughput of 30 boxes per container crane per hour, especially at Hamburg's largest terminal, Burchardkai. The Burchardkai is currently being automated for this purpose. In recent years, this has been associated with considerable disputes between HHLA management and the workforce. The employees fear for income and financially privileged shift models. The model for the revision at Burchardkai and later also at Tollerort is Hamburg's most automated terminal, Altenwerder, which also belongs to HHLA. The Burchardkai is currently being equipped with automated block storage.

In addition to expanding the terminal, A.P. Moller-Maersk also expands its logistics presence in Rotterdam with other facilities. The reason for this is also that Maersk – formerly the largest and currently the second largest liner shipping company in the world – is being restructured into a fully integrated logistics group. Among other things, the cargo airline Maersk Air Cargo is currently expanding its offer, for example with direct flights between the Danish Billund and China.