The port of Rotterdam, the third biggest port in the world, made a strong growth of 5.7 percent in its throughput in the Q1 of this year, the port authority said Wednesday.

Some 98 million tons of goods were handled by the port in the first quarter, data from the port showed.

The growth is mainly attributed to the 42 percent increase in the throughput of petroleum products, an 8 percent rise in containers, a 6 percent growth in other liquid bulk and a 38 percent surge in roll on/roll off goods.

The extraordinary growth in the throughput of oil products, to a quarterly total of 15.2 million tons, is mainly due to Asia' strong demand for fuel from Russia.

Accelerated growth in the volume of containers from Asia arriving at the port is the main driving force behind the port's containers throughput growth. In terms of TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), Rotterdam's throughput of containers rose 10 percent in the first quarter to 2.54 million TEU.