Amsterdam Seaports, the ports serving the North Sea Canal region, ended 2010 with a 4% increase in transhipment traffic.

Together, Amsterdam, Ijmuiden, Beverwijk and Zaanstad handled transhipment volumes totalling 90 million tonnes.

At the port of Amsterdam this traffic declined by 1% on last year, to approximately 72.5 million tonnes, but improved as the year progressed – up 5% year on year in the second half.

In Ijmuiden, transhipment volumes increased by 30% reaching 17 million tonnes, thanks to intensified demand for steel.

In Zaanstad, traffic stabilised compared with last year, while Beverwijk saw an increase.

Port of Amsterdam President and CEO Dertje Meijer said: “Despite the economic crisis, the Amsterdam port region managed good results, registering a 4% increase.

“[At Amsterdam] transhipment decline was no more than 1%, which is tiny. Last year our port was the fourth port of North-west Europe, following Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg. I am very proud of this.”

For this year the Amsterdam port is expecting transhipment volumes to stabilise.

However, it added: “Unfortunately, the crisis continues for some of the relevant sectors, but hopefully the port will continue to benefit from the careful economic growth expected in 2011.”