Greater Rijnmond has the most powerful regional logistics ecosystem. The region is an attractive location for logistics companies not only now but also in the future.
Buck Consultants International has compiled a top 40 of regions in the Netherlands with the most powerful and versatile logistics ecosystems. Groot-Rijnmond comes out on top, followed by West Noord-Brabant and Midden Noord-Brabant.
Future strength of regions
The logistics ecosystem should provide an overall insight into the future strength of the 40 regions in the Netherlands. "The main focus was on logistics ecosystems, so not only the current state of affairs, but also the future potential strength of logistics regions in the Netherlands for establishing and expanding distribution centres," said Kees Verweij, partner at Buck Consultants International. "Regions are the right scale level to analyse and strengthen logistics ecosystems, because labour market, business accommodation market and multimodal accessibility are distinctive at precisely that geographical level."
BCI assessed the regions on four pillars:
- sufficient market size and business development opportunities for logistics operations;
- attractive physical business environment for logistics facilities;
- labour market development for distribution centres;
- high level of innovation and sustainability in logistics operations.
Rotterdam-Rijnmond: seaport logistics and national distribution
The Rotterdam-Rijnmond region has the most powerful and versatile logistics ecosystem of all Dutch regions due to the combination of seaport logistics and national/fresh distribution. Moreover, the region has the second-largest urban agglomeration in the Netherlands, with a corresponding need for urban logistics. Due to the presence of the seaport, the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region will remain attractive for specific warehouses in the longer term, Buck Consultants expects. The region also scores well on the labour market theme, due to the relatively large reservoir of labour and the various logistics courses available.
Brabant and Limburg score high on e-fulfilment
Hotspots West Brabant, Central Brabant and North Limburg occupy places 2, 3 and 4 in the ranking. The two Brabant regions score slightly better due to their more central position in the Netherlands, making them more attractive for national distribution. As a location for european distribution centres, the regions are not much inferior to each other. These three regions are also interesting for e-commerce operations, also because there is a lot of 'feeling' for logistics among the working population.
Southeast Brabant scores slightly better as number 5 than Greater Amsterdam. Both regions have a good starting position as an ecosystem, but in Southeast Brabant, the manufacturing industry plays a strong role as a spearhead in the region and logistics is less in the foreground; in Greater Amsterdam, there is a lack of space for the development of larger logistics warehouses. However, both regions are attractive location regions for individual warehouses.
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