Location  Advantages   
The Port of Rotterdam is Europe's largest seaport, and it is the second biggest city in The Netherlands. Located about 34 nautical miles downstream from the Port of Moerdijk on the New Meuse and 70 kilometers southwest of the Port of Amsterdam, the Port of Rotterdam is about 100 nautical miles directly east of the Port of Felixstowe in England. In my point of view , Location is one of the vital elements to all ports, It can provides a lot of convenience. Rotterdam's logistic success is largely based on its strategic location .   The port area includes 12,500 ha (land and water, of which approx 6,000 ha is business sites). The total length of the port area is more than 40 km. Approximately 30,000 seagoing vessels and 110,000 inland vessels visit the port of Rotterdam every year. With depth of 24 meters, the Port of Rotterdam has 
no locks. Rotterdam experiences a temperate oceanic climate similar to almost all of the Netherlands. Located near to the coast, its climate is slightly milder than locations further inland, so the Port of Rotterdam can handle the largest ocean-going vessels 24 hours a day throughout the year. From these information we can see that broad waters and favorable climatic conditions also contribute to the development of a port.    The Port of Rotterdam is the 
base of the city's economy. Located in the heart of Europe's industrialized, highly-populated triangle of the German Ruhr district, Paris, and London, the Port of Rotterdam is strategically positioned on the world's busiest sea. It is an important distribution point for products going all over inland Europe. These economic conditions based the possibility of the development of the Port of Rotterdam.     

Development  status     
The port of Rotterdam’s annual throughput amounts to some 465 million tonnes. This makes the port of Rotterdam the largest port in Europe. Rotterdam’s main target countries are the Federal Republic of Germany, Britain, France, Italy and other EU countries. Moreover, bulk cargo transit shipments accounted for 85% of the total, of which crude oil and petroleum products accounted for 70%, the rest for ore, coal, grain and fertilizer.    
Today's high-profile project is the construction of Maasvlakte 2, a new industrial zone and port providing 1000 hectares of industrial sites with direct access to the deep waters of the North Sea.When it is completed, the port area will grow by 20%.    
The Port of Rotterdam handled general cargoes that included over 112 million tons of containerized cargoes, 16.7 million tons of roll-on/roll-off cargoes, and 6.9 million tons of other general cargoes. In 2010, the Port of Rotterdam handled a total of 11.1 million TEUs of containerized cargo. This included 5.7 million TEUs of imports and 5.4 million TEUs of exports.   In 2010, the Port of Rotterdam handled a total of almost 430 million tons of cargo, including almost 305 million tons of imports and over 125 million tons of exports. Within this total was 84.6 million tons of dry bulk cargoes, 209.4 million tons of liquid bulk, 23.7 million tons of breakbulk cargo, and 112.3 million tons of containerized cargo. There is no doubt that these quantities are very large, no wonder it would take steps to expand the port.     

Logistics Analysis       
In 2010, the Port of Rotterdam was the fourth busiest port in the world based on cargo volumes. The Port of Rotterdam follows Shanghai (650 million tons), Ningbo/Zhou Shan (627 million tons), and Singapore (502.5 million tons). The Port of Rotterdam was the only non-Asian port in the ten busiest ports of the world. Even now, it’s still the 10th largest cargo port in the world.     
It has the following characteristics:   
(1)The Port of Rotterdam is really a collection of smaller specialized ports. It can handles all imaginable types of cargoes and is a vital link in the "supply chain" necessary to get products from factories to consumers. There are many companies in the region that specialize in storage, transshipment, transport, and industrial processing of cargoes. Cargoes are handled by specialized companies that work with chemicals, liquid and dry bulk, ores, refrigerated cargoes and food, vehicles, general cargo, and containers.     
Rotterdam consists of five distinct port areas and three distribution parks that facilitate the needs of a hinterland with 40,000,000 consumers. The three most important ports are Eur0p00rt、Botlek、Maasvlaskte.    
(2) The Port of Rotterdam distributes cargoes to inland Europe's huge market of consumers through five transportation modes: roads, railways,t specializes in the field. In Rotterdam, EDI technology has been widely used, almost every company can master the operation of this system. Using EDI systems eliminates the need - and therefore cost - to print, file, store, post and retrieve paper documents. The goal is to get rid of paper and have everyone working with the same invoice so that information is processed and read easily.  
   
summary 
Rotterdam is Netherland’s transportation hub and industrial center, contribution to the economy accounted for more than 10% of the Dutch GDP. Rotterdam is the world's most important port, the annual throughput of more than 300 million tons, the port area of over 80 square kilometers, is a typical estuary port. The port's main activities are petrochemical industries and general cargo handling and transshipment. The harbour functions as an important transit point for bulk materials and between the European continent and overseas. From Rotterdam goods are transported by ship, river barge, train or road. With a mature logistics operations system and its spirit of innovation, Rotterdam was a success. Port of Rotterdam in the logistics system construction experience and the pattern is worth learning.