Europe’s Busiest Port Expands for Oil Speculators, Idling Ships

Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s busiest, expanded its anchorage area to accommodate increasing demand from oil traders storing fuel at sea and more idling ships awaiting cargoes.

Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch waterways authority, designated an area 15 kilometers (9 miles) northwest off the North Sea resort of Scheveningen as a new anchoring zone, the port authority said in a statement on its Web site today.

“Many tankers are lying at anchor here to wait for orders or for speculative considerations,” the port said in the statement. “The popularity of North Sea anchoring spots has increased considerably.”

The combined capacity of ships hired to store oil products expanded more than fivefold since April, according to data from Simpson Spence & Young Ltd., the world’s second-largest shipbroker. About two-thirds of those cargoes are in Europe, and additional carriers are also holding crude. Some merchant ships are also anchoring because they can’t find cargoes.

Traders can buy cargoes, store them and sell them at higher prices through derivatives contracts to lock in profit. In Europe, vessels are also parked off the U.K. coast at locations including Southwold, to the east.

The number of waiting vessels off Rotterdam has risen to an average of 50 to 60 with peaks of 90, compared with 40 before the economic crisis, Dutch news agency ANP reported. The new area lies along the shipping route to Scandinavia and the Baltic countries and can anchor about 15 vessels, the port said.

Largest Port

Rotterdam is Europe’s largest port, handling 401.2 million metric tons of cargo in 2007, more than twice the tonnage of runner-up Antwerp, according to a ranking by the America Association of Port Authorities. The port ranks fourth in the world after Shanghai, Singapore and Ningbo in China.

Most oil tankers in the approach to Rotterdam remain at anchor no longer than “several days,” while in other areas of the North Sea tankers lie at anchor for months, the port said.

The approach to Rotterdam stretches 57 kilometers into the North Sea to the start of the Eurogeul shipping channel, the port said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net. Alaric Nightingale in London at Anightingal1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace in London at swallace6@bloomberg.net.