Written by Emilee Schuman
Coming this April to screens across the Netherlands, Kano aan Zee is a documentary that brings to life the history of Rotterdam Port. Participating in the documentary as a historian of Rotterdam’s port, and the other Dutch main port Schiphol, Johan Schot, provided an historical perspective of the port and its connection to contemporary systemic challenges we face now. He commented:
“The story about the history of the port of Rotterdam is fascinating. In 1961, Rotterdam became the biggest port in the world. The question is how and why this happened. This is a story about the consequences of globalisation, and about local choices and how to act on these. These choices have had consequences – social and ecological ones that have contributed to a poly-crisis of global heating, mass extinction, resource depletion and inequality. The port must address the question of how to become a sustainable port. This will involve hard and difficult choices. Business as usual will not do. This is not just a story about Rotterdam, it is, in fact, a story about the history of the Netherlands.”
Directed by André van der Hout, Kano aan Zee is a tribute to those who built it but simultaneously reckons with its past. Through exploring the lives of two “port barons” – D.G. van Beuningen and Frans Postuma – the film details how and why the port quickly rose to prominence in the grips of the fossil fuel industry. Van der Hout documents the transformation of Rotterdam’s coal empire over the twentieth century to symbolize the port making its mark on the global economy. However, the film asks its audience to consider whether a smaller future is possible for the Maas-Rhine delta. Detailing the significance of the film to him, Van der Hout states:
“I grew up in the shadow of the port. Literally—when I was in school, I often had to cycle to the dilapidated building in Vlaardingen with a damp cloth over my mouth to avoid acute poisoning. And the port never let me go. My first film, about the explosion at the Shell refinery, focused on a single event in a small, contained setting in the 1960s. Now, I want to connect the past, present, and future of the Maas Rhine delta. A full-length, widescreen project—an undertaking as massive and ambitious as the port itself.”
As we now look toward a more sustainable future for the port, Kano aan Zee asks the audience to consider the contemporary implications of the port’s past and tries to reconcile with possible alternative futures for the delta. Filmmaker Andre van der Hout uses historical footage to explore the relationship between public and private interests of the twentieth century, analysing the voices of residents and workers in past transitions. Through an historical lens, the documentary includes an interdisciplinary approach from various scholars to discuss potential alternative futures for Rotterdam’s main port.
Schot has an extensive academic background on the history of the port of Rotterdam and has published numerous papers on both the history of Rotterdam and Schiphol. In 2002, Schot co-authored a book about the history of transport in the Netherlands in the book series Techniek in Nederland in de twintigste eeuw. Chapters included are “The mobility explosion in the twentieth century,” “Competition and coordination: water, rail, road and air,” “Working on mobility: the integration of the car,” “The emergence of a mechanized bulk cargo port in Rotterdam,” “Indirect transshipment and the arrival of the container,” “From remote corner to hub: Schiphol,” and “Limited mobility?” You can read more of these papers here.
The documentary will be released on 3 April 2025. To watch the trailer and find out where you can view it, please click here.
Further reading
Johan Schot, ‘Schiphol, kijkdoos van de moderniteit’, in: Dossier Schiphol. Over economie en ecologie in Nederland Distributieland. Report for Milieudefensie uitgegeven door politiek cultureel centrum ‘De Balie” te Amsterdam, mei 1995, 66-80.
H. van Driel, Johan Schot, ‘Radical Innovation as a Multilevel Process: Introducing Floating Grain Elevators in the Port of Rotterdam’, in Technology and Culture, Volume 46, Number 1, January 2005, 51-76 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/179754