The Netherlands must be careful not to lose its competitive position as a transit country. Our country is under high pressure because the cost to transit products is sometimes more than 70 per cent more expensive than neighbouring countries. The import tariffs imposed by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) calculations could cause major problems. This is what EVO, TLN, export association Fenedex, Fenex, ACN, Port of Rotterdam Authority, Deltalinqs and AIP announce.
Companies sound the alarm
If companies can get a better rate in another to nearby transit country, it could lead to the loss of jobs. High tariffs are putting a lot of pressure on the position of the Netherlands and several organisation have now sounded the alarm. They fear the Netherlands is pricing itself completely out of the market after State Secretary for Economic Affairs Dijksma wants to raise tariffs again.
Netherlands a lot more expensive
Earlier this year, the cabinet investigated the position of the Netherlands vis-à-vis its competitors by looking at supervision and inspection burdens and the study showed that regular import controls in the Netherlands are between 45 and 72 per cent more expensive than our closest competitors. A motion, which called on Dijksma not to raise tariffs further, was intended to ensure that the problems did not get worse and to further investigate the negative effects. The State Secretary threw these recommendations to the wind and recently sent a letter to the House of Representatives announcing a further increase in import tariffs.
The Hague sees it differently
According to the cabinet, the low logistics costs in the Netherlands will ensure that customers do not walk away en masse and will still use the Netherlands as a transit country. However, logistics and transport companies see this completely differently and have already heard in recent times that several companies are switching to the port of Antwerp, among others. Industry organisations are therefore still worried and argue that a new increase in tariffs will put further pressure on the competitive position and the number of jobs.
Editorial LogistiekProfs
