About the annual report

For the very first time, the Port of Rotterdam Authority has integrated the traditional report of the Executive Board, the Financial Statements, the Corporate Social Responsibility Report and other information for the 2009 reporting year into a single report: the Annual Report 2009. The aim of this Annual Report is to provide all the stakeholders of the Port of Rotterdam Authority with a realistic picture of the state of affairs concerning our operations and efforts in the port and industrial complex and the chain, keeping relevance and transparency in mind. The Annual Report looks back on 2009 and looks forward to the activities planned for the future.

The Annual Report has been drawn up with due observance of the statutory provisions of Title 9, Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code, the Annual Reporting Guidelines and the G3 Guideline of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). A further explanation of the accounting policies for the Financial Statements can be found in the Financial Statements. For the complete Annual Report 2009, we also abide by the G3 guideline of the GRI in so far as applicable to our organisation. The links to the guidelines of the GRI are shown in the enclosed GRI table. The table refers for each indicator to the page where an explanation is given. Where certain indicators are not used, an explanation is given as to why this decision has been taken or why no information is available.

The report is wider-ranging than the Port of Rotterdam Authority itself. This is because we realise that although the effect of our own business operations on the environment and our surroundings is limited, it is much greater in the port and industrial complex and the transport chain. We endeavour to exercise our influence through cooperation. For this reason, we devote considerable attention in our Annual Report to joint activities of the Port of Rotterdam Authority and its cooperating partners. The scope and range of the Annual Report 2009 is equivalent to both the Annual Report and the CSR Report of the previous year.

The definitions and accounting principles have remained unchanged from last year. With the quantitative figures, comparative figures from previous years have been shown wherever possible.

When selecting the subjects for the Annual Report 2009, we have looked at the relevance, topicality and continuity in the reporting, taking as our starting points the developments in 2009, the dilemmas the Port of Rotterdam Authority has dealt with in its business operations, stakeholder dialogues as part of projects, and descriptions of progress in developments begun earlier. The latter aims to follow the same pattern as earlier Corporate Social Responsibility reports.

The Port Authority attaches great importance to the correct, complete and transparent reporting of its business operations, including financial outcomes as well as the efforts and results of Corporate Social Responsibility.
 
In order to achieve the desired quality, there has been intensive, project-based cooperation with a large number of staff. The steering group, led by the CFO, and the project team comprised staff from the Corporate Strategy, Corporate Communication Strategy, Finance and Internal Audit departments. Following the recommendations for topics by Corporate Strategy, the individual texts were written by the employees responsible across the company. The texts were then compiled and edited by Corporate Communication. During the project the texts were checked for accuracy, completeness and relevance by the Internal Audit Department. Throughout the entire process, Finance monitored the consistency of the figures in the Financial Statements and the report. Finally, Corporate Communication (Digital Media) worked intensively to ensure the quality of the online and PDF publications of the report.
 
We have had the Annual Report assessed by external parties. Global Reporting Initiative has tested the level of application of the G3 guidelines. Ernst & Young Accountants LLP carried out not only the audit as required by law, but also verified the text of the Annual Report. This has produced the integrated Audit Report as published here.