Container traffic at the Port of Amsterdam increased 21 percent from a year ago and is set to soar by around 50 percent this year.
Traffic rose to 370,000 TEUs from 305,000 TEUs in 2006, driven mainly by the increasing number of vessels of over 8,000 TEUs capacity calling at the port, the port authority said.
The port handled 55,601 TEUs of empty containers, up 109 percent on-year, on the launch of a twice-weekly inland barge service to the major German inland terminals at Emmerich, Duisburg and Cologne.
The port authority said it expects container traffic to rise by over 50 percent to around 550,000 TEUs in 2008 as more services call at its Ceres Paragon container terminal.
The terminal handles two Europe-Middle East-Asia services for the Grand Alliance and is expected to win a new China service from the group this year.
The port authority said port dues and quay charges will rise by 1.75 percent, the same increase as in 2007.
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