Port Rotterdam Record 50,000-tonne Shipment of Pig Iron

The port of Rotterdam, Netherlands on 22nd Oct had a calling of a bulk carrier with a record shipment of 50,000 tonnes of pig iron. This marks the first time Carbones Holding GmbH, a major Austrian distributor of metal products, has put together and dispatched a shipment of this size in a single transport. The pig iron will be stored by ZHD Stevedores before being distributed further throughout Europe.

First Time ever Port transport for pig iron

The Austrian metal products distributor Carbones Holding put together this record shipment of pig iron, which it will be supplying to clients across Europe. Sebastian Brunner, who works as a trader for Carbones: "Normally, a pig iron shipment is 30,000 to 35,000 tonnes. But this time, we're shipping out 50,000 tonnes. That has never been done before with pig iron! We're very happy to have pulled it off. Organizing, coordinating and planning a shipment are a complicated process that requires close collaboration between all of the parties involved. Pig iron isn't made near a port - the production locations are more land inward. The iron needs to be moved by train, truck or smaller vessel to the large carrier in the port. It can be quite tricky to get all 50,000 tonnes of pig iron from a variety of locations to the ship on time."

Every year, Carbones trades about 2.2 million tonnes of metal products - mostly pig iron - serving some 400 clients in Europe. This particular shipment comes from Brazil and was mainly produced by the two well-known pig iron manufacturers Grupo AVG and Grupo PLANTAR. The shipment has a total value of around USD 25 million. Carbones has teamed up with a Swiss bank to finance the transport itself. Sebastian Brunner: "Shipping a large volume of dry bulk in one go - as we're doing in this case - cuts costs and to the benefit of our clients."

Sebastian Brunner adds: "Another unique feature of this shipment is that it includes different types of pig iron - all of high quality. You may not see it from the outside, but the various orders differ in terms of chemical composition. It can be quite a challenge to prevent these different categories from getting mixed up on board the vessel. There will always be hiccups in an operation of this size. For example, right now the water levels along the Rhine are too low for direct forwarding via inland shipping. That's why we will be storing 18,000 tonnes of iron at ZHD Stevedores's facilities in Dordrecht (Netherlands). From there, we can transport these orders by truck or inland vessel to our clients: foundries and steel manufacturers in Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, France, and Belgium."

Rotterdam is the perfect port to unload at for a project like this, thanks to the depth of its waterways, the freedom to handle cargo from buoys or dolphins and its range of distribution options.

Source: Port of Rotterdam