By far the largest number of reefer points, almost 11,000, can be found at the six main sea terminals. The other 1,000 are distributed over specialised inland shipping terminals (300) and depots for container storage (800).

Sea terminals
About 70% of the connections at the sea terminals are concentrated at the three terminals on the Maasvlakte, although the two deep-sea terminals in the Waal/Eemhaven area have relatively more connections. The ranking for total capacity/connections is as follows:

Terminal  Connections  Total capacity (TEU/year)

• 1. ECT City 1359 1.100.000
• 2. Uniport Multipurpose 1250 1.200.000
• 3. Euromax 2136 2.300.000
• 4. APMT Rotterdam 2250 2.700.000
• 5. ECT Delta 3250 5.000.000
• 6. RST 640 1.440.000

Most of the services that call in at ECT City and Uniport terminals arrive from Latin-America, South and West Africa, Oceania and Iceland/Norway. These are the source areas for meat, fish and fruit; by far the most important products for reefer containers.

Market
These frozen or refrigerated products are stored temporarily very close (Eemhaven, Maasvlakte) to the port and/or have a final destination on the continent a relatively short distance from Rotterdam, up to 500 kilometres. There is a large
-direct substantial demand from consumers, whether or not via wholesale points such as those from Brussels, Paris/Rungis, Venlo and Barendrecht. Consolidation with Dutch horticultural products takes place at the latter locations.
- indirect demand from the traditionally strong regional food processing industry. These also generate re-export in reefer containers and export of Dutch products, especially dairy.
In addition there is increased sea-to-sea transit from the southern hemisphere especially to Russia, and from Scandinavia to Asia (fish).
The favourable supply and demand situation is reinforced by the fact that many services call in at Rotterdam as the first port of unloading.

Handling capacity
Mostly forty-foot containers are connected to the 11,000 connections. With a multiplying factor of 1.8, the static capacity is almost 20,000 TEU. With an average connection time of 3 to 4 days, the points’ maximum output could amount to 2 million TEU per year (2). Of course the actual results are reduced by seasonal influences (harvest and consumption patterns) while being stimulated by the value of the cargo and the higher costs of terminal spaces.

Dynamics
Shifting consumption and production patterns and system changes in shipping companies (large Asian services loading African cargo in Southern Europe) mean that the Maasvlakte is becoming increasingly important for cargo in reefer containers. The increase in shipping between the southern hemisphere and North Western Europe works in the same way.

The two terminals being constructed at Maasvlakte 2, that is Rotterdam World Gateway and APMT Rotterdam, will therefore have a large number of connections for reefer containers.
The dynamics aren’t limited to the sea area. Food has a strong emotional component and its transportation also needs to meet increasingly stricter quality requirements. Sustainability is an element of this and that is why more inland shipping is being used to and from Rotterdam for hinterland transport.
The dynamics for both sea and land mean that on the link points, the terminals, there is a rising demand for interim storage and reefer points. The hinterland also changes in this respect and the cooling chain is extended up to and including the smaller terminals there. Rotterdam Cool Port, which is expected to be kicked off this year, will be part of the chain as well.

Macro
The export of seasonal fruit from South America and South Africa starts in February, which means almost all the fruit, with the exception of bananas which are produced all year. In Rotterdam, the container share in this is now enormous, when compared to entire reefer vessels with separate pallets.
The structural demand for fruit in Western Europe is hardly increasing but it is in Central Europe. The strongest growth, however, is taking place in the Middle East and Asia (taste development plus increased buying power). As a result, and reinforced by the euro/dollar ratio, more fruit flows to Asia. Increasing supply is possible but it takes time before new trees and plants are productive.

Starting from today, 8 February the `Fruit Logistica´ will take place in Berlin, one of the largest annual trade fairs for the global fruit and food sector.

(1) The Port of Antwerp has approximately 5,000 connections and Hamburg has somewhat fewer.
(2) PSA Singapore handled 1.3 million TEU via 7,000 connections in 2011. Using similar calculations this means that a unit was connected on average 3.5 days. This corresponds with the spontaneous estimate of an ‘insider’ regarding the average connection time at the Rotterdam terminals: ‘Twice per week per point’.

Hydrogen has various applications. Presently, an important one is that hydrogen is needed to de-sulphurise fuels. Oil companies are investing in cleaner production processes because of more stringent environmental requirements. The cleaner fuels ensure that the emission of sulphur dioxide by vehicle and ship engines, for example, is reduced. In addition, hydrogen is an important raw material in the chemical industry. Finally, it is seen by many as the fuel of the future.

The now opened hydrogen factory cost approximately €200 million and was constructed in the very short time of just one-and-a-half years. The factory is situated in the grounds of the ExxonMobil refinery in the Botlek but can also supply hydrogen to other companies in the port area via pipeline. The new factory uses raw materials originating from ExxonMobil and, in addition to hydrogen, also delivers steam to the refinery. This makes it a good example of co-siting: by situating companies that need each other’s raw materials or products close to each other, the production chains are kept as short and efficient as possible, ensuring greater delivery assurance.

The now opened hydrogen factory produces 50% more hydrogen than the old Air Products factory in Pernis, which it replaces. The new factory is some 15% more energy-efficient in the production of hydrogen and is also capture ready, which means that a unit for capturing CO2 can be added to the factory relatively easily.

In addition to Air Products, Air Liquide in Rotterdam also produces hydrogen on a large scale.

Source: Port of Rotterdam

TomTom has teamed up with insurance broker Motaquote for the launch of Fair Pay Insurance – a product that rewards ‘good’ drivers with lower premiums.

“Our entry in the insurance market with our proven fleet management technology puts us at the forefront of a move that could help to revolutionise the motor insurance industry,” said Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director TomTom Business Solutions.

“We offer a unique combination of navigation, traffic information and telematics which opens up great opportunities for insurance companies to promote greener, safer driving and create a ground breaking portfolio of new insurance products.”

“We are delighted Motaquote have recognised this potential in the launch of such an innovative product.”

Fair Pay Insurance gives drivers control over their own policy by using driving ability and behaviour to allocate premiums, rather than so-called risk factors such as postcode, gender, and age or vehicle type.

“We’ve dispensed with generalisations and said to our customers, if you believe you’re a good driver, we’ll believe you and we’ll even give you the benefit up front,” said Nigel Lombard, Managing Director of Fair Pay Insurance.

“This is unlike some other telematics-based schemes where you may have to prove your ability over a number of months. So if you think of your insurance as your car’s MPG – the better you drive, the longer your fuel will last. It’s the same with Fair Pay Insurance, good drivers get more for their money and in that sense they will pay ultimately less.”

Drivers who sign up for Fair Pay will benefit from a specially-developed TomTom PRO 3100 navigation device, which includes Active Driver Feedback and LIVE Services. This means policy-holders can be alerted to driving events, such as harsh cornering and sharp braking, and benefit from accurate traffic information updated every two minutes.

They will also have a LINK tracking unit fitted in their vehicles, allowing driver behaviour and habits to be monitored. This information can then be viewed by the policy-holder in their driver dashboard, an online tool that details journey and driver behaviour data, and in regular email bulletins.

The shopping centre exposure of the total property portfolio will be increased to 60-80%. The office investments will amount to 15-30% of the portfolio and the development portfolio will move within a range of 5-10% of the property portfolio. By expanding the exposure in shopping centres the occupancy rate will become more stable and the investment result more steady.

Hans Pars (chairman of the board of management) explains:

“We will fully focus on shopping centres which are dominant within their catchment area in the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and the United Kingdom and on offices in Paris and Madrid. Our American property investments will be sold and we will continue to sell non-strategic assets in Europe. We aim to divest well over EUR 1,1 billion during the next two to three years. Some sales are already in progress for the 1st quarter of 2012. We believe that next to our development pipeline, during the coming years attractive opportunities will arise to reinvest the proceeds from sales. The strategy will lead to a more focused Wereldhave with an improved risk profile.”

Exit from the United States
Wereldhave is active in the United States since 1978 and is at present the only large European property investment company which is active in both Europe and the United States. The American portfolio amounts to ca. EURO 800 million and consists primarily of office buildings in the regions of Washington DC, Texas and San Diego and apartments in Texas. Measured to American standards and given the spread of activities over three regions, Wereldhave lacks scale in the United States. Moreover, institutional investors attach importance to making their own real estate asset allocation.

The proceeds from the divestment of US properties will be used for purchases and (re-)development projects in Western Europe. Wereldhave believes that next to its development pipeline, attractive opportunities will arise to re-invest the sales proceeds in the six European countries in which it is active. As standing investments will be sold and suitable reinvestment opportunities may not always be available directly, Wereldhave foresees fluctuations in the direct result during the transitional phase. Wereldhave aims to maintain the dividend in 2012 and 2013 at the 2010 and 2011 level.

SOURCE: Wereldhave

By using recycled carbon dioxide, DyeCoo’s technology eliminates the use of water in the textile dyeing process. The name “DyeCoo” was inspired by the process of “dyeing” with “CO2.” The partnership is illustrative of NIKE, Inc.’s long-term commitment to designing and developing the most superior athletic performance products for athletes and its overall sustainable business and innovation strategy.

“Waterless dyeing is a significant step in our journey to serve both the athlete and the planet, and this partnership reinforces Nike’s long-term strategy and deep commitment to innovation and sustainability,” says Eric Sprunk, Nike’s Vice President of Merchandising and Product. “We believe this technology has the potential to revolutionize textile manufacturing, and we want to collaborate with progressive dye houses, textile manufacturers and consumer apparel brands to scale this technology and push it throughout the industry.”

Nike has been exploring this technology for the past eight years and expects to showcase cutting edge apparel using textiles dyed without water at events later this year, with an eye towards scaling the technology for larger production volumes.

“We’re very excited to be partnering with Nike to help drive this together and believe the benefits and impacts of this technology are significant,” says Reinier Mommaal, CEO of DyeCoo.”There is no water consumption, a reduction in energy use, no auxiliary chemicals required, no need for drying, and the process is twice as fast. The technology can also improve the quality of the dyed fabric, allows for greater control over the dyeing process, enables new dye capabilities and transforms fabric dyeing so that it can take place just about anywhere. We hope more industry leaders will join us in leveraging this innovative technology in the near future.”

Conventional textile dyeing requires substantial amounts of water. On average, an estimated 100-150 liters of water is needed to process one kg of textile materials today. Industry analysts estimate that more than 39 million tonnes of polyester will be dyed annually by 2015. Nike says it expects DyeCoo’s supercritical fluid carbon dioxide, or “SCF” CO2 dyeing technology, to have a particularly positive impact in Asia, where much of the world’s textile dyeing occurs. As this technology is brought to scale, large amounts of water used in conventional textile dyeing will no longer be needed, nor will the commensurate use of fossil fuel-generated energy be required to heat such large sums of water. The removal of water from the textile dyeing process also eliminates the risk of effluent discharge, a known environmental hazard. The CO2 used in DyeCoo’s dyeing process is also reclaimed and reused.

DyeCoo is believed to be the first company to successfully apply the SCF CO2 process to the commercial dyeing of polyester fabric, and research is already underway to apply the technology to other natural and synthetic fabrics. SCF CO2 technology is safely utilized at scale in other industries such as the decaffeination of coffee and the extraction of natural flavors and fragrances.

About NIKE, Inc.
NIKE, Inc., based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Umbro Ltd., a leading United Kingdom-based global football (soccer) brand; and Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories. For more information, visit www.nikeinc.com and follow @Nike. To learn more about Nike’s commitment to sustainability, visit www.nikebetterworld.com .

About DyeCoo
DyeCoo Textile Systems B.V. was founded in March 2008. DyeCoo Textile Systems is the world’s first supplier of industrial CO2 dyeing equipment and is a leading innovator in CO2 dyeing technology and processes. DyeCoo Textile Systems B.V. is a spin-off of the Dutch Feyecon Group, an innovator in the field of CO2 process technology.

SOURCE: NIKE, Inc.

Value of exports grows faster than GDP
In two decades, the value of Dutch exports has grown from 56 to 69 percent of the GDP, but the contribution of exports to the economy hardly changed, because the value of goods manufactured abroad and used in export products, in particular re-exported products, has grown substantially. Dutch merchants, for example, buy Chinese computers, which are subsequently re-exported to Germany.

Re-exports increased more than fivefold
The value of re-exports grew from 29 billion euro in 1990 to 158 billion euro in 2009. The added value of re-exports, i.e. after deduction of the purchase price on the foreign market, was only 12 billion euro in 2009. The contribution of one euro of re-exports to the economy is approximately 7.5 euro cents. Exports of Dutch-made goods and services are a much more lucrative business: 59 and 76 euro cents respectively for each euro worth of exported goods and services.

Exports most important for manufacturing industry
In 2009, exports accounted for more than half of the contribution of manufacturing industry to the GDP. Exports are much more important for the sector manufacturing industry than for any other sector. In the services sector, exports contributed for approximately one quarter to the added value. Save exports, domestic consumption and investments also contribute to the GDP.

Poznan Municipality and investor SwedeCenter have founded a partnership called “Na Rzecz Warty” with the Dutch consultancy firms KuiperCompagnons (Urban Planning & Design) and DHV (Engineering). This cooperation opens up an unique opportunity for designing a complex development plan for the waterfront areas situated on the Warta River. The Dutch Government is supporting the project as part of its ‘Working with water worldwide’ programme. The total investment comes to 400,000 euro.

In recent years the Warta on several occasions has caused floods in Poznan, with major material and financial damage as a result. The canalized course of the river is no longer able to cope with the ever-larger peak flows. What’s more, the civil engineering approach to the river adopted by the municipal authorities in the past has led to the city now back-facing the river.

The ‘Development Strategy River Warta Poznań’ project hinges on drawing up a strategy that allows water safety measures to be incorporated in Poznań’s broadly based social development while at the same time enabling spatial developments to be adapted to essential water management measures. The currently neglected river floodplains will be restored and made attractive in tandem with water safety improvements. Thus the historically mutually beneficial relationship of city and water will get a future-orientated refreshment.
The Dutch partners KuiperCompagnons and DHV will draw upon their experience from various ‘Room for the River’ projects in the Netherlands and urban innovations worldwide.

Working with water worldwide
The ‘Working with water worldwide’ subsidy program is part of the ‘Partners for Water’ program. This program seeks to combine the strengths of experts to improve the international position of the Dutch water sector, thus contributing to solutions to the global water issue. For this purpose the program is supporting ambitious parties in the Dutch water sector by providing subsidies to carry out innovative projects in other countries.
The Partners for Water project is being implemented by NL EVD International (part of NL Agency) and the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP).

NedCar currently produces Colt and Outlander models designated for sales in MMC’s European market. However, in December 2010, MMC had made decisions regarding future treatment of NedCar’s production operation.

Specifically: To terminate the local production operation of Colt at the end of 2012. KD production of Outlander will be maintained until the end of 2012, but whether a replacement model to be allocated for production from 2013 and beyond or not is yet to be determined. To further examine measures which would enable production operation at NedCar to continue from 2013 and beyond.

Based on the decision, MMC, together with the stakeholders including NedCar management and its labor union, its work council, as well as the Dutch government, had proceeded until today examining measures for the continuation of production operation at NedCar.

However, due to the wildly fluctuating operating environment which automobile manufacturers currently face, MMC could not come up with a reasonable solution to utilize NedCar among MMC’s global production operation structure and thus MMC has concluded it is not viable to allocate a new production model at NedCar.

Europe is and will continue to be an important market for MMC and production and delivery of models for Europe from Japan and Thailand will continue; thus MMC’s model mix and after-service structure will not change at all.

The status of NedCar from 2013 and beyond is yet to be decided, and talks among those concerned are to commence from hereon.

Netherlands Car B. V. is located in Born, Limburg, the Netherlands and has a total of 1500 employees. NedCar Started as a three-way joint venture in 1991 through MMC, Volvo, and the Dutch government. MMC became the sole shareholder when it bought all the remaining shares from its partners in March of 2001. NedCar produced MMC’s Carisma from 1995, then afterwards the Space Star. Currently it produces the European-market Colt and Outlander. Local parts procurement is 85% for the Colt, and 20% for the Outlander. NedCar has produced a cumulative 1.1 million MMC vehicles to the present time.

Delft DI specialises in two business areas. The first area is innovative medical software solutions for sharing digital images and medical records. This business will become a future platform for the development of new Healthcare ICT solutions including Cross Enterprise Document Sharing for Imaging (XDSI) solutions.

The second area is digital X-ray imaging systems, systems integration and service of a wide variety of customised complete solutions for radiology departments. Delft DI has been an important distribution partner for Canon digital radiography systems for over ten years in The Netherlands and Belgium. Building on this partnership, where Delft DI already incorporates Canon digital radiography products in their services, this business will become a platform for developing future digital radiography services.

Ryoichi Bamba , President & CEO, Canon Europe said: “Canon has identified medical imaging as an important focus area for future growth, and we believe this investment and expansion of the medical business will bring new opportunities to build on our success in the digital radiography and eye care sectors to date. We are excited about the solutions and services we can bring to the market together with Delft DI for the benefit of our customers and ultimately patient care. We are looking forward to welcoming Delft DI into the Canon group. ”

Guido Geerts, Chief Executive Officer, Delft DI, added: “We have enjoyed a good relationship with Canon as a distribution partner and we are delighted to now be extending this relationship. We are proud to become part of the Canon Group and believe this will also bring benefits for our customers.”

Following the completion of the acquisition, Delft DI will become a subsidiary of Canon Europa NV. Yoshiyuki Masuko, Senior Director, Medical Imaging Group, will join the board of Delft DI.

Delft Imaging Systems, currently a subsidiary of Delft DI, will become a separate company, will no longer be part of Delft DI group, and is not part of this acquisition.

SOURCE Canon Europe

“This 15-year agreement emphasizes the importance of high growth markets for AkzoNobel and will help drive the company’s medium-term strategy of doubling revenue in Brazil to €1.5 billion,” said Rob Frohn, AkzoNobel Executive Committee member responsible for Specialty Chemicals.

The investment will involve supplying, storing and handling all chemicals for the 1.5 million ton per year pulp mill, which is being constructed in Imperatriz, Maranhão, Brazil. The mill is expected to come on stream in the last quarter of 2013.

“We are very proud to have been awarded this project; it underlines the value our Chemical Island concept brings to our customers,” said Pulp and Paper Chemicals General Manager Ruud Joosten. “The future demand for pulp and paper in Latin America and China is forecast to increase substantially over the next decade and these investments ensure that we are part of that growth.”

Commenting on the agreement, Ernesto Pousada, COO at Suzano Papel e Celulose, said: “Eka Chemicals is a long and reliable partner to Suzano Papel e Celulose. Via this deal, we are ensuring our plant will use the latest and most sustainable chemicals available – something which has been key for us.”

The new facility will expand AkzoNobel’s well-established pulp and paper activities in Brazil. The business already successfully runs Chemical Islands, as well as other production units, on several customer sites. It also operates bleaching and paper chemical plants in Jacareí, Rio de Janeiro, Três Lagoas and Jundiaí.

AkzoNobel currently employs over 2,700 people in Brazil, and its 2010 revenue totaled close to €850 million. The majority of revenue is generated from local demand. The company’s ambition is to achieve revenue of €1.5 billion in Brazil by 2015.