Oosterhout Container Terminal joins West-Brabant corridor

Oosterhout Container Terminal (OCT) has now joined the West-Brabant corridor, the partnership launched in February 2018 between deep-sea terminals, inland shipping companies and inland terminals to bundle container cargo on the sailing route between Tilburg, Moerdijk and the Port of Rotterdam. The addition of OCT has resulted in an approximate thirty-percent increase in container volume on this sailing route.

In practice, the partnership means that vessels consolidate cargo at different terminals in Moerdijk, Tilburg and Oosterhout for one deep-sea container terminal in Rotterdam or vice versa. Partnership on the main corridors and the bundling of cargo in the hinterland is important in achieving improved vessel capacity usage and reducing waiting times at the terminals. This was a reason for the Port of Rotterdam Authority to provide financial support for the supply chain partnership on the West-Brabant corridor in February 2018.

Arie Rietveld, Owner of OCT: ‘The West-Brabant corridor is an example of reliability and good cooperation between strong partners in the logistics chain. That’s the reason we joined this initiative,’ Rietveld stated.

Emile Hoogsteden, Director of Containers, Breakbulk & Logistics at the Port of Rotterdam Authority: ‘The more container freight is being bundled for transport to and from the hinterland, the better, as this accelerates efficient handling in the Port of Rotterdam.’

First results of partnership

The West-Brabant corridor is an important sailing route for connections between the Port of Rotterdam and the hinterland. Over 15% of the total inland container shipping volume to and from the terminals in Rotterdam is transported along this corridor.

Barge Terminal Tilburg, Combined Cargo Terminals and Moerdijk Container Terminals have been cooperating to bundle cargo on the route between Tilburg, Moerdijk and the Port of Rotterdam since early 2018.

The initial results demonstrate that the West-Brabant corridor has approximately 75% fewer deviations from the requested port call agreements at the terminals, compared with the average. 30% fewer inland vessels arrived at the deep-sea terminals and the volume transported by truck fell by 20% compared with the same period last year. Bundling volumes has doubled the call size, reducing the total port stay by 30%. These results demonstrate that bundling container freight reduces port congestion.