Rotterdam is the largest port in the world. It is located on the North Sea. About 30,000 seagoing vessels and 130,000 river-going vessels lay anchor there every year. Five hundred shipping lines connect it to about 1,000 other ports. Rotterdam is Europeís most important port for oil, chemicals, containers, ore, coal, metal and food. Most of the goods that arrive in Rotterdam are headed for inland Europe. They are carried all over the continent on roads, railways and inland waterways.