European Economic
and Social Committee
Study visit to Rotterdam
On 13th December 2012, after the plenary session, eleven members from the Employers' and the Various Interests Group of the European Economic and Social Committee went for a study visit to the Port of Rotterdam.
The group had the opportunity to see the harbour facilities by night on board of the Port Authority's M.S. "Nieuwe Maze". At the same time, a high-level business and governmental delegation from Germany and the Netherlands was aboard. This was an excellent occasion for interesting discussions and exchanges of views between the participants of the different groups.
The second day, 14th December 2012, the group began with a visit to the visitors' information centre "FutureLand" for a video presentation on the development of the second extension of the port (Tweede Maasvlakte) in the open North Sea, a space for deepsea-related container transhipment, distribution and the chemical industry.
The terminal will be run by a consortium of Euromax, APM and Rotterdam World Gateway with cranes which are fully remote controlled. Nature that is lost during the construction will be compensated with the creation of a sea bed protection area reservation and the enlargement of the dune ashore.
Next programme point was a guided tour through the ECT Delta container terminal. Founded in 1966 and represented in 52 ports and 26 countries, ECT is the leading and most advanced container terminal operator in Europe handling most of the containers in the port of Rotterdam (100.000 weekly) and container ships over 14.000 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units). In 1993, ECT opened the first automated terminal in the world. Identification of containers is through a biometric device made by the truck driver throughout the whole handling procedure.
The participants were pleasantly surprised not only by the size of the port and its activities but also by the wide range of topics, in particular environment, safety, sustainability and social environment, which are of great importance for the "Rotterdamse Havenbedrijf"