Rotterdam is Europe’s most attractive port

Leading Maritime Cities of the World

Riva is a leading rental company in Rotterdam. Especially expats and international students find a house through our listings. They live here temporarily and work in the maritime sector. Or they do a graduation project at refineries, terminals, shiphandlers or other companies in the port of Rotterdam. Riva thus benefits from a flourishing port. We are delighted to see the throughput in the port of Rotterdam in 2021 matching the pre-pandemic level of 2019.

The port authority published the uplifting numbers. Almost all goods types were up on last year. One of the sharpest rises was the increase in the throughput number of containers. An increase in revenue and lower costs led to an operating result before interest, depreciation and taxes of € 512.2 million, In 2020 this was € 477.5 million.

Outlook for Rotterdam

The total cargo throughput in 2022 is expected to be at more or less the same level as in 2021, in line with the trend in recent years. It should be noted that the economy (including the global economy) may of course be affected to a major extent by the course of the corona pandemic and possible geopolitical developments. In the container segment specifically, the expectation is that the disruption of logistics will continue for a long time in 2022 but that Rotterdam's competitive position is favourable. As far as the energy transition is concerned, crucial steps can be expected in the area of building infrastructure for CO2 transport and storage, infrastructure for hydrogen, and the production of hydrogen and biofuels. The Port Authority will use its sound financial position to continue to invest in an efficient and sustainable port.

The port of Rotterdam (Courtesy of Port of Rotterdam)

European frontrunner

Earlier the port of Rotterdam has been announced as the European frontrunner in the 2022 edition of the ‘Leading Maritime Cities of the World’ report recently launched by DNV and Menon Economics. 

Co-author Benjamin Dineshkar, Head of Maritime Advisory, Middle East, and Jeroen van der Veer, Area Business Development Manager, Netherlands of DNV, took the time to elaborate and explain what Rotterdam needs to do to maintain its position.

Rotterdam has climbed the global rankings consistently since 2015. The survey has been performed and published five times since its first edition exactly 10 years ago. It provides valuable insights into which global maritime cities offer the best infrastructure, technology, finance, and world-class talent, that help maritime communities to connect and prosper.

Benjamin Dineshkar explains the background: “The idea for an independent and un-commissioned global benchmark of top maritime cities arose after we were asked by several individual maritime regions to provide an insight into how they performed compared to other regions.”

Each competing city is benchmarked on five pillars: shipping centers, maritime finance, and law, maritime technology, ports and logistics, attractiveness, and competitiveness. Each of these has both objective and subjective indicators. Dineshkar: “Even though Rotterdam didn’t come out top on any single pillar, the city scored high on most pillars, especially in the area of ports and logistics as well as attractiveness and competitiveness. This produced a well-deserved global second-ranking and the top European position.”

Riva can help

As Europe’s prime logistical hub, Rotterdam offers a lot of employment in the shipping industry. Every year skippers, helmsmen, crane operators, dockers and other workers arrive in Rotterdam. A lot of them get housing through Riva. They find our website themselves or the company provides for mediation. As we have good contact with a lot of port companies.

So if you're looking for housing Riva can help. Or if you want to rent out your apartment to serious, hardworking harbor laborers, Riva can also help. Contact us either way.

Cover: Danny Cornelissen