Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands, is the largest port in the world today. It is located at the intersection of the Rhine and Maas rivers, on both sides of the New Maas River, 25.7 kilometers away from the North Sea, and close to the major industrial areas of developed countries in Western Europe such as Britain, Belgium, France and the Federal Republic of Germany. The geographical location is very superior, so it has become the distribution center of bulk import and export commodities in these countries and is known as the "gateway to Europe". Since 1965, it has become the largest port in the world, with a cargo throughput of1.438+billion tons. With the economic development of western European countries and the establishment of the European common market, the prosperity of Rotterdam port has been promoted. 1982, more than 30,000 ocean-going ships from all over the world docked here, plus about 200,000 inland ships, and the cargo throughput reached 252 million tons (1973 exceeded 300 million tons), ranking first in the world. The water depth of the waterway in the harbor is not sluice, silted, frozen and motionless, which can prevent wind and waves. The water area of the port area is 29 10 hectare, of which 2 148 hectare is used by ocean-going ships. There are 380 berths in Hong Kong, with a total length of 37.9 kilometers, which can berth supertankers with a load of 545,000 tons. The docks are highly specialized, with special docks for oil, ore, steel, chemicals, automobiles, wood, grains, groceries, fish, vegetables and fruits, bulk cargo and containers. , as well as passenger terminal, self-loading dock and mother ship operation area. The mechanization and automation of port facilities are quite high. On average, a seagoing ship enters and exits the port every 6 minutes, and there are only16,000 employees in the whole port. Modern water, land and air traffic in the port area connects the port with important cities in China and Europe.

The Dutch built Rotterdam as early as14th century, and built ports and docks for port operation. However, in World War II, this famous port city was destroyed by German fascist bombs. Rotterdam today was completely rebuilt after the war. 1982 The urban population is 576,000, second only to the capital Amsterdam; Including the suburban population, it reached 6.5438+0.024 million, ranking first in the country. The city has developed industries such as oil refining, shipbuilding, chemistry and machinery, and is an important commercial and financial center in China.