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Royal Netherlands Embassy || Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 

 
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ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS

 

Gateway to Europe

Trade, transportation and distribution play an important role in the Dutch economy in which exports account for 60 % of GDP. The Dutch trade sector employs 27 % of the population. A dense population of 170 million is within a 300 miles reach of Amsterdam. To put it differently: two-thirds of the US population in an area about the size of the state of Texas. A total of 350 million customers are within 24 to 48 hours by rail, road and waterways like the Rhine and Meuse.

The Dutch are the transporters of Europe. Transshipments of goods to smaller airplanes and feeder vessels take place in main-ports. The important main-ports for Europe are Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and the Port of Rotterdam.

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is the third largest airport in Europe and one of the best, offering the highest quality of services in freight transport and passenger service. Schiphol Airport has won more than 100 international awards for its high quality of service.

In 2001, 1.1 million tons of freight and 39.3 million passengers moved through Schiphol, and data for 2002 shows that Schiphol Airport remains a top performer in Europe.

The Port of Rotterdam remains the number one port in the world.

The decline in throughput in the port of Rotterdam remained limited to 1.7% in the first six months of 2002. Over 159 million tonnes were handled, compared to 162 million tonnes in the first half of 2001. Preliminary data for the second half of 2002 indicate that the 2001-2002 year-to-year comparison will be stable.

More generally, 50 % of all goods entering the European Union go through Rotterdam or Amsterdam. Rotterdam’s port plan 2010 aims at expanding the harbor by reclaiming 1250 hectares of land from the sea. Eight new container terminals will be built, and high speed trains will link up Schiphol and Rotterdam to the TGV network. A rail freight corridor (Betuwe lijn) will link Rotterdam port directly to Germany.

The Port of Amsterdam is predicted to handle 70 million tonnes of cargo in 2002. Amsterdam’s Ports are some of the best operating ports in the Hamburg-Le Havre range.

In the first six months of 2002, goods transhipments in the ports of Amsterdam (Amsterdam, Zaanstad, Beverwijk and IJmuiden/Velsen) increased by 3% to reach 35.9 million tons compared to the same period last year. This was mainly thanks to Amsterdam and IJmuiden which showed increases of 2.2% to 25.7 million tons and 6.9% to 9.9 million tons respectively. All cargo categories improved performance.

 


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