With an important position on the edge of Europe, Holland is an outward looking country with a strong economy. The freight forwarding infrastructure in Holland has seen substantially investment over recent years so as to help boost its overseas trade and its role at the heart of European international freight.

Holland’s location gives it easy access to markets in the UK and Germany, with the port of Rotterdam being the largest port in Europe. Rotterdam is a vital hub for freight transport.

Rotterdam is well geared up to handling the considerable volume of imports and exports that go through the port every day. There is an ongoing programme of improvement which keeps it at the leading edge of freight services, including the construction of Maaslakte 2, which is now under way.

The port has estimated that freight transport throughput will double to 22M Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEU) by 2020. This may seem optimistic given the current subdued trading conditions worldwide, but last year’s record of just under 11M TEU was double the figure just three years ago.

To help facilitate the anticipated increase in freight transport, the Port of Rotterdam is turning attention to the problems of absorbing the extra container traffic generated in its hinterland and how best to influence the modal split and increase the use of rail and barge for freight forwarding in preference to freight transport by road. This is driven both by needs to increase efficiency and also environmental concerns. The current inter modal split is around 13% rail, 30% barge and 57% road. It is targeted that this changes to 20% rail, 45% barge and no more than 35% road in the medium term.

At present, there can be intense traffic congestion, which is a problem for freight companies and shipping companies, as activities are constrained by the Maas at the Northern border and the Hartland Canal at the south. This means that road traffic cannot filter south along the coast and can only cross to the Northern side through the Maas Tunnel.

Major roadworks are scheduled between 2010 and 2015 which will result in a reduction in this problem and an improvement in freight transport once they are completed, although there will inevitably be additional disruption created to freight services in the meantime.

There are also improvements under way to the rail infrastructure, so that more freight forwarding can make use of rail, but the German authorities do not intend to complete their section of the planned new freight line until 2015, and even then capacity will only be 10 trains an hour in each direction, shared between container trains and coal and iron ore trains for the German steel mills and power plants.

So although it will take time for the various developments to be established and impact on the modal split as is planned, Holland is well under way addressing the issues related to investing in the future of the Port of Rotterdam. This will help ensure a bright future for every shipping company and freight company that is involved in international freight through Rotterdam.

This is important as Holland is one of Europe’s most vibrant centres of trade and industry and one of the most open and internationally oriented economies in the world. It is a very competitive, growing market with opportunities for trade in all sectors.Holland’s strategic location gives it a crucial role as a key transportation hub, at the very centre of international freight and freight services in Europe, and the development work under way at Rotterdam will help it stay at the leading edge.

Author Bio: Stephen Willis is Managing Director of RW Freight Services a UK based freight transport company, established in 1971 and operating worldwide freight forwarding services including specialist freight services to and from Holland

Category: Business
Keywords: Freight services,shipping companies,international freight, freight transport, freight forwarding,