Used to be the world’s busiest port (1962 to 2002), Port of Rotterdam is still considered as the largest port in Europe.  Every year, the Port organizes the World Port Days (De Wereldhavendagen) event that allow public to see “behind the scenes” of the port activities. This annual event started in 1977 and still continued until this year. The event is now growing into maritime festive and participated by the Dutch Marine corps and international companies.

De Wereldhavendagen

De Wereldhavendagen

De Wereldhavendagen 2013

De Wereldhavendagen

De Wereldhavendagen 2014

As usual, the festive is celebrated for three days on the first weekend of September. This year it starts on Friday 5th September until Sunday 7th September. The activities includes the excursions to the port, container terminals, manufacturers, and boat trips. Also there are some maritime shows on the Maas River by the Dutch Marine corps. The location of the event is mainly on Wilhelminapier where the icon of Rotterdam, Erasmus bridge, is also located.

Evening parties on Saturday night are being hold at several area to celebrate the World Port Days. The largest and the nicest one is located in Deliplein-Katendrecht, a neighbourhood next to Wilhelminapier. This evening party is called as the Night at de Kaap (de Nacht van de Kaap). The party includes music performance in several stages, dance area, food and drink stalls. It is a fun open-air party. I have never been able to take pictures of the event but let me share the night photos of Dutch Marine multi-function support ship, Karel Doorman, that is docked in Wilhelminapier for the World Port Days this year.

De Wereldhavendagen

De Wereldhavendagen

De Wereldhavendagen

De Wereldhavendagen

De Wereldhavendagen

This annual event is very special. It shows the characteristic of Rotterdam as a port city that depends on the river. Usually the tours and excursions during the festive are fully booked very quickly, so buying the tickets online as soon as possible is highly recommended (the excursions are in Dutch and English). I missed some tours this year but managed to get the last ticket for an excursion to the largest multi-function building in the Netherlands :). Please stay tune, I will post it on the next coming post!