Port of Rotterdam eyeing green sector in expansion

Its Maasvlatke 2 project hopes to host bio-based industries, including some from Asia

By LYNN KAN

THE Port of Rotterdam, Europe's busiest, has long been associated with a bustling petrochemical industry - but it will be turning a page towards a greener economy.

With about 400 hectares of reclaimed land in the port's new 1,000 hectare extension earmarked for industrial use, it hopes to make a good part of the space available for bio-based industries, which will churn out biomass products, biofuels and biochemicals.

Maasvlatke 2 will be a reclaimed area of industries and port terminals, and is expanded from the existing Port of Rotterdam.

There are hopes that many Asian companies would be in the mix of international companies there, said Port of Rotterdam officials who visited Singapore last week.

'What we are seeing over here is that because of the new development (Maasvlatke 2), many Asian companies are starting to become very interested in Europe as a market for their products,' said Joris Hurenkamp, business manager for the port's chemical and bio-based industry portfolio.

Said Rein Coster, director of chemicals for the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA): 'Some of the companies in South-east Asia have served the regional market first, and now they have the ambition to become global players.'

Officials from the Port of Rotterdam and the NFIA last week finished visits to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand to meet South-east Asian-based commodities and energy companies, such as Wilmar, Sime Darby and KOK.

'Many of these agricultural product-based companies want to expand, to improve the use of the products for food as well as for fuels,' said Frans Jan Hellenthal, business developer for Port of Rotterdam's chemical and bio-based industry.

However, no tenants are confirmed yet and discussions are still under way.

Despite the European Union teetering on the brink of recession, they are confident that the industries in Maasvlatke 2 will take off when opened.

Mr Hurenkamp points to the 2009 recession, which claimed many factory closures around Europe - but not in Rotterdam.

'No factories shut in Rotterdam. Capacity from other factories in Europe was directed to Rotterdam because output from Rotterdam was able to reach the market in the most efficient way,' he said.

Confident as they are about Maasvlatke 2's success, they do not see a Maasvlatke 3 in the pipeline yet.

'Never say never,' said Mr Hurenkamp. 'But at the moment, we don't foresee a third Maasvlatke. We think in the existing port area, better use of land will provide us with sufficient new possibilities for the longer term.'

'Moreover, the cost of another Maasvlatke will be more and more expensive as we go deeper into the sea,' he said, adding that Maasvlatke 2 is already a three billion euro (S$5 billion) project.

Source: The Business Times, 15 Feb 2012