Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM (Reuters – Europe’s most important port Rotterdam stated that its goods throughput decreased by 1.5% in quarter one due to Russia sanctions. The company also anticipates that the violence in Ukraine will have a significant impact on the year.

Rotterdam imported 30% of the oil through Rotterdam in 2021. 25% of Rotterdam’s liquefied exports were also from Russia. 20% of Rotterdam’s coal imports arrived at Dutch ports from Russia.

Although it wasn’t possible to estimate how much volume Russia was importing, Port of Rotterdam claimed that the “impact of sanctions and company decision not to do so with Russia” is evident in almost all industries.

According to the port, falling Russian container volume had been apparent since March when most Russian shipping companies had stopped accepting container bookings and deep-sea terminals had also stopped exports.

Russian oil and coal, as well as gas, are not currently subject to European sanctions. However, Shell (LON : ) has stopped or slowed down doing business with Russian companies involuntarily ahead of any possible new sanctions.

Rotterdam received 113.6 Million tonnes of goods during the first quarter of 2022. That’s down from 115.2 Mio. in the same time period in 2021.

Allard Castelein (CEO Port of Rotterdam) stated in a statement that “We expect the developments in Ukraine as well as the severely deteriorated relationship with Russia and many others will have an impact upon throughput volumes throughout the year.”

Partially, the loss in trade with Russia has been offset by increased trade elsewhere.

The port stated that oil companies have been taking less oil from Russia since March. It also noted that 25.5 million tonnes of crude oil had been imported.

Imports of LNG rose 78% to 2.7 Million tonnes in the quarter, compared with a year ago.

High prices in Germany had hampered German steel production and contributed to 20% declines in iron ore imports, the port stated.

There was also the risk of disruptions in trade with China because there were lockdowns.

The port stated that “In the first quarter, the effects of the COVID lockdowns Shanghai in Shanghai weren’t yet visible in Rotterdam.”