Maasvlakte

Maasvlakte is a large, man-made port area at the mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, forming part of the Port of Rotterdam in the province of South Holland, the Netherlands. It consists of two extensions: Maasvlakte I, completed in the early 1970s, and Maasvlakte II, opened in 2015 after decades of planning and construction. The land was reclaimed from the North Sea by dredging and constructing seawalls and dikes, allowing the Port of Rotterdam to expand its capacity beyond Europoort.

Maasvlakte I was created to relieve congestion at Europoort and to provide deeper water berths for larger vessels; Maasvlakte II was designed to accommodate modern container ships and further growth in throughput. The area lies west of the Nieuwe Waterweg and connects to the rest of Rotterdam through road and rail networks that support both international shipping and freight traffic. It hosts multiple container terminals and handling facilities operated by international terminal operators, as well as facilities for bulk, roll-on/roll-off, and energy products.

Operational control and development are managed by the Port of Rotterdam Authority. The project has been associated with environmental and regional concerns, including coastal protection, dredging impacts, and effects on marine ecosystems, which have been addressed through planning, monitoring, and mitigation measures. Maasvlakte is a central element of Rotterdam’s strategy to remain one of Europe’s leading cargo ports.

See also: Port of Rotterdam, Europoort.