Rotterdam

Rotterdam (/ˈrɒtərdæm/ or /ˌrɒtərˈdæm/;Dutch: [ˌrɔtərˈdɑm]) is a city in South Holland, the Netherlands, located geographically within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt river delta at the North Sea. Its history goes back to 1270 when a dam was constructed in the Rotte river and people settled around it for safety. In 1340 Rotterdam was granted city rights by the Count of Holland and slowly grew into a major logistic and economic centre. Nowadays it is home to Europe's largest port and has a population of 624,799 (2014, city proper), ranking second in the Netherlands. The Greater Rijnmond area is home to approximately 1.4 million people and the Rotterdam The Hague urban area makes for the 168th most populous urban area in the world. Rotterdam is part of the yet larger Randstad conurbation with a total population of 7,100,000.

The city of Rotterdam is known for the Erasmus University, riverside setting, lively cultural life and its maritime heritage. The near-complete destruction of Rotterdam's city centre during World War II (known as the Rotterdam Blitz) has resulted in a varied architectural landscape including sky-scrapers, which are an uncommon sight in other Dutch cities. Rotterdam is home to some world-famous architecture from renowned architects like Rem Koolhaas, Piet Blom, Ben van Berkel and others. Recently Rotterdam was listed 8th in The Rough Guide Top 10 Cities to Visit and was voted 2015 European City of the Year by the Academy of Urbanism.

Norwegian Breakaway

Norwegian Breakaway is a cruise ship operated by Norwegian Cruise Line. Construction of Norwegian Breakaway began on 21 September 2011, when the first piece of steel was cut at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. She was delivered to NCL on 25 April 2013. Following the handover, Norwegian Breakaway left the port of Bremerhaven, heading for Rotterdam. Following several inaugural events, she started her transatlantic cruise from Southampton to New York City, where the naming ceremony took place. On 12 May 2013 she headed to Bermuda to start her seven-day cruises.

She is 144,017 GT in size, and has capacity for 4,000 passengers, double occupancy. The ship has a total of 1,024 staterooms and 238 suites, designed by Priestmangoode and Tillberg Design.

Norwegian Breakaway is home ported at the New York Passenger Ship Terminal in Manhattan, making seven-night cruises to Bermuda (May thru Sept) and seven-night cruises to the Bahamas & Florida (October thru April). She is the largest cruise ship homeported year-round from New York City.

Port of Rotterdam

The Port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe, located in the city of Rotterdam, Netherlands. From 1962 until 2004 it was the world's busiest port, now overtaken first by Singapore and then Shanghai. In 2011, Rotterdam was the world's eleventh-largest container port in terms of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) handled (2009: tenth; 2008: ninth, 2006: sixth). In 2012 Rotterdam was the world's sixth-largest port in terms of annual cargo tonnage.

Covering 105 square kilometres (41 sq mi), the port of Rotterdam now stretches over a distance of 40 kilometres (25 mi). It consists of the city centre's historic harbor area, including Delfshaven; the Maashaven/Rijnhaven/Feijenoord complex; the harbours around Nieuw-Mathenesse; Waalhaven; Vondelingenplaat; Eemhaven; Botlek; Europoort, situated along the Calandkanaal, Nieuwe Waterweg and Scheur (the latter two being continuations of the Nieuwe Maas); and the reclaimed Maasvlakte area, which projects into the North Sea.

Rotterdam consists of five distinct port areas and three distribution parks that facilitate the needs of a hinterland with 40,000,000 consumers.

Norwegian Epic

Norwegian Epic is a cruise ship of the Norwegian Cruise Line built under that line's F3 Project by STX Europe Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. When built it was the third largest cruise ship in the world.

Two ships in this class were ordered by NCL in November 2006, with an option for a third vessel that was not exercised. A dispute between NCL and STX initially resulted in the construction of both ships being placed on hold until a new agreement was reached. That called for completion of the first ship would be completed; the second ship was cancelled in 2008. The sole remaining ship, Norwegian Epic, was delivered to NCL on 17 June 2010.

After completion and acceptance, the Epic sailed on Thursday 24 June 2010 from Southampton to New York.

Overview

The Norwegian Epic surpasses the Breakaway-class as NCL's largest vessel at over 155,873 GT. Norwegian Epic represents the "third generation" of Freestyle cruising vessels and its size allows NCL to have a ship that is in the "mega-class" of their competitors at Royal Caribbean International and Carnival Cruise Lines, though still 32% smaller by gross tonnage than Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, the world's largest and longest passenger vessels. The ship has 4100 passenger berths, with all outside cabins having balconies. The Epic introduced 100 square foot interior studio cabins for solo passengers, including a shared "living room" for socializing. NCL had stated that this ship would have 60% more passenger space than their then-largest ships.

Freight transport

Freight transport is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea, but is extended in American English to refer to transport by land or air (International English: "carriage") as well. "Logistics", a term borrowed from the military environment, is also fashionably used in the same sense.

Modes of shipment

Ground

Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck (International English: lorry). In air and sea shipments, ground transport is required to take the cargo from its place of origin to the airport or seaport and then to its destination because it is not always possible to establish a production facility near ports due to limited coastlines of countries. Ground transport is typically more affordable than air, but more expensive than sea especially in developing countries like India, where inland infrastructure is not efficient.

Shipment of cargo by trucks, directly from the shipper's place to the destination, is known as a door to door shipment and more formally as multimodal transport. Trucks and trains make deliveries to sea and air ports where cargo is moved in bulk.