Rotterdam takes top spot in connectivity league

Larger average ship sizes and a reshuffle of alliances has boosted Rotterdam’s connectivity score. But this has come at a cost to other northern European ports

Piraeus and Algeciras battle it out for top spot in Mediterranean as Tanger Med continues to grow

ROTTERDAM overtook Antwerp in the fourth quarter to take the top spot in the European and Mediterranean container shipping connectivity league, based on the data in the latest Port Liner Shipping Connectivity Index.

The reversal at the top of the league is mainly due to the increase in the maximum ship size calling at Rotterdam. The total deployed capacity increased to over 29m teu from 26.5m teu.

By contrast, despite an increase in the average ship size and in the total deployed capacity, Antwerp has seen a reduction in its LSCI, mainly driven by a contraction in the number of services scheduled at the Belgian port in the fourth quarter of this year.

Elsewhere, Bremerhaven and Le Havre have also seen a reduction in their LSCI, mainly due to a contraction in the deployed capacity at Bremerhaven and a decrease in the average ship size at Le Havre.

Bremerhaven has seen the termination of the Condor/AE7 services offered by the 2M alliance, while the largest average ship by service now calling at Le Havre is 17,030 teu, down from 19,546 in 2018.

All other top 10 ports in the European and Mediterranean league have increased their LSCI, with the biggest increase in absolute terms reported by Barcelona, where the index increased from 49 in 2018 to 56 in this year.

The increase was mainly driven by the introduction of ships averaging 18,577 teu replacing those of 14,996 teu on the 2M alliance’s JADE/AE11 service and the introduction of the Mediterranean Shipping Co’s California Express service.

Piraeus remains the most connected port in the Mediterranean, but Algeciras is now only 0.1 index points behind.

First published on Lloyd's List website November 2019