North Sea ports will return to growth again this year as the shipping industry's crisis ebbs, said Hans Smits, chief executive of Europe's biggest port in Rotterdam, Reuters reported.

"For Rotterdam we expect about three percent growth this year," Smits told German daily Hamburger Abendblatt.

Shipping companies as well as ports were hit hard by the global economic downturn as demand for goods around the world shrank and businesses cut costs, weighing on global trade.

Maersk Line, the world's biggest container shipper, had said last year it expected to post a 2009 loss of US$1 billion.

Northern Europe's ports were expected to be hit especially hard by the first decline ever in global container throughput, said HHL , a German port logistics company based in Hamburg, home to Europe's second-biggest port, last year.

According to Hamburger Abendblatt, Rotterdam port will cut its fees by five percent to boost growth, and Hamburg's port is expected to take similar measures.