Netherlands weather things well
Even though goods transport has only been affected indirectly by the pandemic, it nevertheless had to battle many demand problems and correspondingly lower volumes. The sector’s situation in the Netherlands, a classic transport and logistics country, was a bit different, however, with transport volumes going up in the crisis. Timely investment in infrastructure will additionally shore up this trend.
The Netherlands, which many an intercontinental player in the transport and logistics industry considers the gateway to Europe, has done relatively well so far in 2020. The overall outlook gives rise to optimism for many companies.
According to figures published by the online statistics service provider Statista, the Netherlands can expect +1% growth in the volume of goods transported across all modes of transport in this difficult year. Logistics service providers and maritime shipping are the most promising segments, with +3%, whilst road haulage is not far behind (+2.5%).
Home-made success
One of the guarantors of this success in these times of Covid-19 is international trade. E-commerce in the Netherlands saw goods worth around EUR 25.8 billion shifted in 2019, a rise of approximately 7% vis-à-vis the previous year. In Q2 / 2020, then, the Dutch statistics office CBS registered a 6% rise in B2C trade. In July the development continued after the lockdown, with a rise of 10% vis-à-vis July 2019.
Such success comes at something of a price too, however. At the opening of the Dutch parliament on 15 September, transport minister Cornelia van Nieuwenhuizen said that “Our roads are currently already almost as heavily used as before the downturn. So we are keen to ensure that our infrastructure is in a better state if the economic situation continues to improve at this pace.”
Besides substantial national investment of approximately EUR 1.9 billion, earmarked for the roads, railways and inland waterway sectors through to 2023, there is another EUR 62 million of EU funds available through the TEN-T programme. This programme also includes berths for barges on the river Rhine and the expansion of railtracks in Amersfoort.
The trimodal expansion measures are absolutely essential. A total of approximately 760 million t of freight was hauled annually on the Dutch roads through to 2018; goods shipped by inland waterway, in turn, stagnated at approximately 313 million t annually. Further substantial investment is required to lift the volume of goods on inland barges and on the railways.
