Rotterdam is located in the delta of the Rhine River, one of Europe’s most important waterways.
Many of the barges that ply the Rhine, and seagoing ships that reach Rotterdam through a channel linking it with the North Sea, load and unload their cargo at Rotterdam. All these barges and ships make this Dutch city the largest port on earth.
The port of Rotterdam can handle at least 300 big ships at one time. More than 31,000 seagoing ships and 200,000 barges use the port of Rotterdam in an average year.
In fact, about 280 million tons of seagoing cargo pass through Rotterdam annually. How much cargo is that? All the ports in the United States together handle about 750 million tons of cargo in a year!