Excellent sea- and airport facilities

The Netherlands has three main ports in close proximity to one another

1. two major seaports: the port of Rotterdam and the port of Amsterdam,
2. one major international airport: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

From these ports, incoming goods are transported efficiently to all European destinations and beyond, all over the world.

Dutch seaports handle 42% of total volume
The Port of Rotterdam is the third largest port in the world in terms of total tonnage. It handles over 350 million tons of cargo each year, and in total 30,000 ships from all over the world arrive there each year.

It is a logistics center where multinational companies can serve their European markets from a central northwest European point. This is illustrated by Rotterdam’s status as the leading container port in Europe, with 9.7 million TEU in 2006.

In the near future, the Port of Rotterdam will become even more pre-eminent among world ports thanks to the Maasvlakte 2 port area, which will boost container transshipment capacity significantly. Located to the west of the existing port, the site of the expansion is now under construction. This new port area will expand the total capacity of the harbor from around 10 million TEU to 18 million TEU and will provide access to deep sea water. This will ensure that even larger ships of the future will be able to reach Rotterdam. Maasvlakte 2 will be one of the quickest ports in Europe to access (10 nautical miles), next to Le Havre (nine nautical miles) and will offer excellent rail, inland waterway, and land transport connections.

MLN TEU
The Port of Amsterdam ranks Number 4 in Europe in terms of total transshipment tonnage (about 80 million tons) and is the largest in the world for industries like oil products (gasoline, etc.) and cacao. In agribulk, it is Europe’s largest; in coal, it is Europe’s second after Rotterdam. Specialized maritime service providers facilitate the cargo handling from port to final destination. Amsterdam’s airport and seaport taken together make for Europe’s largest combination of its kind.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol ranks #3
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Europe’s number-three cargo airport, is connected by an extensive network of roads, highways, railways, and waterways to all locations within the Netherlands, as well as to all major European cities and transportation hubs. Its reputation as a top-ranking air cargo center is derived from its excellent cargo links with more than 100 European routes and with all the main US and Far East destinations.


Hinterland Connections
Added to these ports are the country’s flat countryside and latticework of river connections that are overlaid with a dense infrastructure of ultramodern and well-maintained roads, railways, inland waterways, and pipelines. This, combined with an extensive number of transportation service providers, provides you with frequent shipping opportunities, short transportation lead times, and competitive pricing from the seaports, airports, and distribution centers in the Netherlands to all the main destinations within Europe and beyond.

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