Posted on April 5, 2022
In normal times, the Dutch port of Rotterdam is like a machine: hundreds of ships come and go each day, and tens of thousands of boxes are loaded and unloaded from those vessels, all to keep Europe’s economy humming.
Right now, though, sanctions on Russia are snarling thousands of steel shipping containers, the boss of the port said in an interview that gave unique insights into how the beating heart of Europe’s real economy is being disrupted by the measures against Moscow.
The boxes, typically 20 or 40 feet long and destined for the sanctions-hit country, all need careful inspection to make sure that moving them on won’t somehow breach sanctions, according to Port of Rotterdam Chief Executive Officer Allard Castelein.
Multiple agencies are also paying close attention to ships coming from Russia, and a large number of container terminals and shipping companies have also indicated that they will no longer handle cargo bound for the sanctions-hit nation following its invasion of Ukraine.
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