APM Terminals’ Europe Region includes the area traditionally considered as the European Continent as well as the North African Mediterranean coastline; (the Levant states of the Eastern Mediterranean are grouped with the Africa, Middle East and India Region). There are currently 12 APM Terminals facilities operating within the Region, with three more in development, and two undergoing expansion. The European Region as defined by APM Terminals accounted for approximately 100 million TEU of combined container throughput in 2008, representing about 20% of the total global container volume. Weighted by equity share in the facilities, the European Region represents 36% of APM Terminals’ container traffic.
The traditional West European Atlantic port range of France through Germany, accounts for approximately half of all European container traffic, approaching 50 million TEU in 2008, or about 10% of the world’s total container throughput. (Rotterdam, a major Northern European range transshipment center, and the largest European container port handled nearly 11 million TEU in 2008 alone). APM Terminals Global Terminal Network includes five terminals in the Northern European port range, with one in France, at the port of Le Havre, and one each in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany at the major ports of Zeebrugge, Rotterdam and Bremerhaven respectively.
Construction is currently underway with APM Terminals participation at two new facilities at the Maasvlakte II project in Rotterdam and the Jade Weser Port project in the German port of Wilhelmshaven. An expansion is underway at the existing APM Terminals Rotterdam facility. APM Terminals is the sole owner of the Aarhus, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge facilities, and has 50% equity shares in the Bremerhaven and Le Havre terminals and operational control.
The Scandinavian/Baltic Sea ports, which include Russia’s primary container port of St. Petersburg, represent approximately 7.5% of European container traffic with a throughput of 7.5 million TEU. APM Terminals operates a facility in Aarhus, Denmark to serve direct calls and transshipment services in this area. Mediterranean and Black Sea ports account for about two fifths of the Europe container trade, with the Western representing over 22 million TEU in 2008, and the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea ports approximately another 20 million TEU in overall volume. Much of the Mediterranean cargo flows are transshipment containers, representing nearly 25% of total European container traffic.
The Suez Canal Container Terminal, an APM Terminals operated facility at Port Said, Egypt, which handled 2.4 million TEU in 2008 will be the largest container port in the Mediterranean with an annual capacity of 5.1 million TEU when expansion is completed in 2011. At present, APM Terminals Algeciras which saw throughput of 3.4 million TEU in 2008 is among the top three container ports in the Mediterranean.
In addition to a third transshipment center at Tanger Med, APM Terminals Global Terminal Network includes minority ownership participation, but not operational control, in facilities at the Italian ports of Gioia Tauro, Genoa and Cagliari on the island of Sardinia. A new facility is under construction at the Italian port of Vado.
APM Terminals’ world headquarters is located in The Hague, Netherlands, and the Europe Regional offices are in Rotterdam.
Regional Forecast
While cargo flows on such major trade lanes as the trans-Atlantic and Asia/Europe and Asia/Mediterranean are projected to decline this year, operations and management business there are other major factors to be taken into consideration along with raw throughput estimates. The introduction into the global containership fleet of 6th–generation container vessels with capacities in excess of 10,000 TEU, and up to as many as 14,000 TEU directly impacts European ports, as these vessels can only be deployed on the Europe/Asia shipping routes due to size limitations at the Panama Canal.
Providing adequate depth, crane reach and yard space to accommodate these vessels remains a challenge, particularly in older North Europe range ports which do not have the ready option of expanding existing terminals in already space-challenged older ports. Increased terminal capacity will have to originate from immediate rail and barge access to interior destinations, and increased productivity through improved methods and technologies. A cascade effect is sending ships displaced from the Asia/North Europe liner services into the Asia/Mediterranean routes, bringing new demands for capacity and operational expertise on other global trade routes to contend with these larger vessels (8,000 TEU capacity in some cases). The ultra-large vessels have also created the need for more transshipment ports as depth and crane restrictions, as well as schedule and speed considerations dictate port calls.
The APM Terminals Global Terminal Network is uniquely prepared for these changes in vessel deployments in the Europe Region with three major transshipment centers capable of handling 6th–generation containerships already in operation at Port Said, Tangier and Algeciras, and the two new terminals under construction in The Netherlands and Germany.
Terminals
Scandinavia/Baltic Area
APM Terminals Aarhus
Aarhus (Denmark)
North Europe Port Range
North Sea Terminal Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (Germany)
APM Terminals Rotterdam
Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
APM Terminals Zeebrugge
Zeebrugge (Belgium)
Terminal Porte Océane
Le Havre (France)
Maasvlakte II, Rotterdam (in development)
Wilhelmshaven, Germany (in development)
Western Mediterranean
APM Terminals Algeciras
Algeciras (Spain)
APM Terminals Tangier
Tanger-Med Port (Morocco)
Voltri Terminal Europa
Genoa (Italy)
Cagliari International Container Terminal
Sardinia (Italy)
Medcenter Container Terminal
Gioia Tauro (Italy)
Vado, Italy (in development)
Eastern Mediterranean
Suez Canal Container Terminal
Port Said (Egypt)