Rail freight traffic in the Port of Rotterdam is partially restarting, according to Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail. The winter weather caused widespread disruptions across the entire country. It will take some more days to resolve all outstanding issues.
Currently, rail freight operations to the Port of Rotterdam should be online again, despite “some limitations in Kijfhoek and Waalhaven”, in the words of ProRail. Meanwhile, the infrastructure manager adds that the Amsterdam port is still encountering operational problems that will likely last for a couple of days more.
Companies are now working to clear their backlogs. The success of that depends on border crossing capacity and coordination between the German and Dutch infrastructure managers, operational director of HUPAC Mark Jansen says.
The past two days
Whereas on 6 January some train traffic was possible in the Rotterdam port area, by the next day, all freight trains had halted operations, infrastructure manager ProRail reported. The problems have to do with mass failures of switches. They froze or the large amounts of snow got them stuck in one position.
The winter problems were concentrated around the Botlek and Waalhaven ports, as well as rail yard Kijfhoek. The important hinterland Betuwe line to Germany was also limited to a single track for some time.