Amsterdam  - Transshipment of minerals and scrap metals in the Rotterdam harbour dropped 61 per cent in first six months of 2009, the harbour said in a report released on Wednesday.

Activity in the Rotterdam harbour is an important indicator for the state of the Dutch economy.

Transshipment of all goods and products in Rotterdam port amounted 185 million tons, a drop of 13.4 per cent compared with the first six months of 2008.

The amount of goods leaving the harbour dropped 4.6 per cent and now stood at 54 million tons. Import of goods dropped 16.6 per cent to 131 million tons.

By contrast, transshipment of mineral oil products increased (up 17 per cent) to 35 million tons.

For all of 2009, Rotterdam harbour is expecting transshipments to fall 12 per cent, substantially more than the "6 to 10 per cent" it still predicted in April.

Port of Rotterdam CEO Hans Smits said he expected the drop to "stabilize" during the second half of 2009.

"In 2010," he added, " The Rotterdam harbour will catch up with the predicted moderate growth in world trade." (dpa)