Heineken said it is experiencing ‘minor challenges’ from the situation at the Port of Rotterdam

Dutch brewers, Heineken and Bavaria, are continuing to see their export traffic delayed as a result of congestion issues at Europe’s largest port, the Port of Rotterdam. 

The bottlenecks are mainly due to one of the site’s main handling terminals undergoing an upgrade, which began around two months ago. A Heineken spokesperson told just-drinks today: “We’re experiencing some minor challenges, but are working with our logistics partners to find alternative options and solutions such as making additional use of the Port of Antwerp.” 

The spokesperson declined to elaborate on the length of the delays and the volume of shipments that are being held up, or which markets are affected, but added: “The beer we export through Rotterdam and Antwerp is destined for international export markets.” 

Bavaria revealed that its delays at the port concern deep-sea containers to be shipped to markets outside of Europe.  

“The delays are mainly three to four days, but with planning in advance from our side we try to decrease them as much as possible,” a spokesperson said, adding that until now the impact had been “minimal”.