It is reported that Europe's busiest seaport Rotterdam has expanded its anchorage area to accommodate rising demand from oil traders storing fuel at sea and more idling ships awaiting cargoes.

As per report, Dutch waterways authority Rijkswaterstaat designated an area of 15 kilometers northwest off the North Sea resort of Scheveningen as a new anchoring zone. The new area lies along the shipping route to Scandinavia and the Baltic countries and can anchor about 15 vessels.

The authority said that ''Many tankers are lying at anchor here to wait for orders or for speculative considerations. The popularity of North Sea anchoring spots has increased considerably.''

The combined capacity of ships storing oil products at sea has risen more than fivefold since April. About two thirds of those cargoes are in Europe. Some merchant ships are also anchoring because they have no cargoes to make any voyages.

In Europe, vessels are also anchored off the UK coast at locations including Southwold, to the east.

According to a ranking by the America Association of Port Authorities, Rotterdam handles some 401.2 million tonnes of cargo in 2007, more than twice the second largest European port Antwerp.

(Sourced from www.portworld.com)