Rotterdam’s terminals threatened with gridlock
7 April 2021
Around 60 container ships will be arriving in the port of Rotterdam this week. They have all been delayed for at least six days because of the Suez Canal blockage. There isn’t enough space at the terminals for this tsunami of ships to dock at the same time, which will cause enormous congestion problems.
Urgent call for cooperation
Various professional organisations are calling on forwarders, transporters and shippers to coordinate their work as much as possible. Only by cooperating can the enormous number of containers coming into the port be processed. We therefore kindly request that you observe the following:
- Pick up containers as quickly as possible so that the quays remain accessible;
- Be flexible with scheduling warehouse, loading and unloading times, especially outside peak hours. This will allow for faster delivery times.
Container unloading in Belgium and Germany
Shipping lines may decide to divert containers to other ports for unloading, such as Hamburg, Antwerp or Zeebrugge. They would do this to save time. In such a case they still have to ensure that the containers with the destination Rotterdam arrive here safely. But that could take quite a long time, especially if there is a lot of congestion. If it becomes possible to pick up containers from those other ports we will consult with you about whether to do so.
Follow your shipment
You can rely on us to inform you in the usual way about the arrival of your shipment or any potential delay. If necessary, we will contact you to consult about things such as cargo delivery times.
Would you like to be able to check the status of your shipment anytime, anywhere? You can in our TRACOS Lite portal! If you haven’t received your login details yet, you can request these from your usual contact at Ritra Cargo.
Thanking you in advance!
We hope we can count on your understanding and cooperation in these exceptional circumstances. Let’s work together to prevent any further delays as much as we can!
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