Auditor's statement

The Executive Board of Havenbedrijf Rotterdam N.V. (“the Port of Rotterdam Authority”) has engaged us to provide assurance on the financial and non-financial information included in the Annual Report 2009 (“the Annual Report”) of the Port of Rotterdam Authority. In the Annual Report, the Executive Board of the Port of Rotterdam Authority explains the company policy, the business activities and performance during the year under review.

In accordance with the instructions, we have:
• audited the financial statements included in the Annual Report, which comprise the statement of financial position at 31 December 2009, the statement of income for the year then ended and the notes (“financial statements”); and
• reviewed the Report of the Executive Board of the Port of Rotterdam Authority and the other information (“the Report”), included in the Annual Report.

The Executive Board of the Port of Rotterdam Authority is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements and for the preparation of the Report, both in accordance with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code and the reporting policy of the Port of Rotterdam Authority. This responsibility includes, among other things: designing, implementing and maintaining internal control relevant to the preparation of the financial statements and the Report that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; selecting and applying appropriate reporting policies; and making accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances. The choices made by the Executive Board, the scope of the Annual Report and the reporting policy are set out in the ‘About this Annual Report’ section included in the Annual Report.

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the financial statements and the Report based on the procedures performed.  We performed our procedures in accordance with Dutch law, including Standard 3410N ‘Assurance engagements relating to sustainability reports’. This law requires that we comply with ethical requirements and:

• plan and perform the audit of the financial statements to obtain reasonable assurance whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement; and
• plan and perform the review of the Report to obtain limited assurance whether the Report in all material respects provides an plausible presentation of the company policy, business activities and performance in 2009.

Procedures performed in connection with the financial statements
The audit of the financial statements involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial data, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity's internal control.

Procedures performed in connection with the Report
The review of the Report involves performing procedures to obtain review evidence about the plausibility of the information on the company policy, business activities and performance. The nature and extent of the procedures performed is such that our review provides limited assurance. We have not performed an audit and, accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion.

The review of the Report includes: 
• assessing it against the criteria under the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines of the GRI as included in the reporting policy of the Port of Rotterdam Authority;
• obtaining an understanding of the design and existence of the systems and methods used for collecting and processing data on which the reported information is based;
• reviewing the plausibility of the information included in the Report through analytical procedures and inquiries of personnel;
• conducting interviews with responsible company officers; and
• reviewing relevant company documents and studying external sources.

Procedures performed in connection with the financial statements and the Report
Procedures performed in connection with the financial statements and the Report include:
• assessing the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of estimates made in drawing up the Annual Report;
• evaluating the overall presentation of the Annual Report.

We believe that the evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of the Port of Rotterdam Authority at 31 December 2009 and of its result for the year then ended, in accordance with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code.

Pursuant to the legal requirement under Section 393(5)(f) of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code, we report that the Report is consistent with the financial statements, as required by Section 391(4) of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code.

Based on our review of the Report, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the Report does not in all material respects provide an plausible presentation of the company policy, business activities and performance in 2009 in accordance with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code and the reporting policy of the Port of Rotterdam Authority.

 
Rotterdam, 2 March 2010

for Ernst & Young Accountants LLP

With respect to the Report:           With respect to the financial statements:

Signed D.A. de Waard                  Signed J.T. de Hek