Europoort
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Europoort ("Eurogate", also "Europort") is a harbour of Rotterdam and the adjoining industrial area in the Netherlands. Being the port with the largest amount of transit in the world and situated at the mouth of the river Rhine with the hinterland consisting of the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and partly France, Europort is considered the entry to Europe.
The Europoort area is very heavily industrialised with petrochemical refineries and storage tanks. Bulk iron ore and coal handling; container and new motor vehicle terminals.
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[edit] Development of Europort
Rotterdam has developed from a small town into a major harbour city. In earlier centuries, docks were built on the banks of the Nieuwe Maas river. In the 19th century, connections between Rotterdam and the North Sea were poor, with a large estuary/delta area with many small waterways between them. Ships had to sail around Voorne-Putten to go out to sea. This could take several days or even weeks. To improve the situation, the Nieuwe Waterweg ("New Waterway"), a large canal was designed to connect the Rhine and Meuse rivers to the sea. The Nieuwe Waterweg was designed to be partly dug and to further develop itself. In the end, the last part had also to be dug. Nevertheless, Rotterdam from now on had a connection between the sea and harbour areas with sufficient depth. The Nieuwe Waterweg has since been deepened several times. Over the years the port was further developed seaward by building new docks and harbour-bassins. In the 1970s the port was extended into the sea at the south side of the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg by completion of the Maasvlakte (Meuse-plain), a large area with even more refineries and storage tanks. Currently, plans are being developed to extend Europort even further seaward with the Tweede Maasvlakte (Second Meuse-plain). In the last 5 years the industrialized skyline has been changed by the addition of large numbers of wind turbines taking advantage of the exposed coastal conditions.
[edit] Factors for Europoort's success
The most important factor to the large amount of cargo shipping in and out of Europort is the presence of the Meuse and Rhine rivers. Through these rivers, Europort is connected to the Ruhr Area in Germany as well as Switzerland, Belgium and France. Furthermore, Europort is connected to its 'competitor', the port of Antwerp by the Rhine-Scheldt-canal. Adding to its transit-function, Rotterdam is connected to Germany by the highway A15 and a railway-network. Currently, an extra railway connection (the Betuweroute) is under construction to create an extra connection to the Ruhr area.
[edit] Trivia
The P&O passenger/car/lorry overnight ferry service to Hull, England operates from Europoort using the world's largest ferries the Pride of Rotterdam and the Pride of Hull.
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