The Netherlands largest maritime freight transport country in the EU

The Netherlands has remained the largest maritime freight transport country in Europe since 2010. At 543 million tonnes, the volume of seaborne goods handled in Dutch ports in 2012 represented 14.6% of the EU-28 total.

The Netherlands was followed by the United Kingdom (UK) and Italy, with shares of 13.4% and 12.8%, respectively. Spain remained the fourth largest and France the fifth largest EU maritime freight transport country in 2012. Ports in the candidate country Turkey handled 375 million tonnes of goods in 2012, placing it between Spain and France in terms of total volume of seaborne goods.

Inward movement of goods to the EU-28 countries decreased by 2.3% in 2012 and accounted for about 61% of the total tonnage of goods handled in EU-28 ports. Much of this inward tonnage is made up of considerable inward volumes of liquid bulk goods, such as crude oil and oil products.

In general, more seaborne goods are unloaded than loaded in the majority of EU countries. Cyprus had the highest share of total tonnage unloaded in 2012, followed by Malta and the Netherlands. However, for Romania and Bulgaria (agricultural products), the three Baltic countries (oil products) and the EEA country Norway (crude oil), outward movement of goods prevailed. < Korea Shipping Gazette >