Transport in the Netherlands

thumb|270px|Traffic in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is both a very densely populated and a highly developed country in which transport is a key factor of the economy. Correspondingly it has a very dense and modern infrastructure, facilitating transport with road, rail, air and water networks. In its Global Competitiveness Report for 2014-2015, the World Economic Forum ranked the Dutch transport infrastructure fourth in the world.

With a total road network of 139,000 km, including 3,530 km of expressways, the Netherlands has one of the densest road networks in the world; much denser than Germany and France, though not as dense as Belgium. The Dutch also have a well developed railway network, that connects most towns and cities, as well as a comprehensive dedicated cycling infrastructure, featuring some 35,000 km of track physically segregated from motorised traffic. It connects with its hinterland in Germany, Switzerland and France through the rivers Rhine and Meuse. Two thirds of all inland water freight shipping within the EU, and 40% of containers, pass through the Netherlands.

Mobility in the Netherlands is considerable. On the roads it has grown continuously since the 1950s and now exceeds 200 billion km travelled per year, three quarters of which are done by car. Around half of all trips in the Netherlands are made by car, 25% by bicycle, 20% walking, and 5% by public transport. Excluding air travel, the Dutch journey more than 30 km a day on average, which takes them just over an hour.

In 2010, 1.65 billion tons of goods traffic was registered, half of which moved by sea and inland shipping, and 40% by road transport. The remainder was mostly by pipelines; rail transport only handles 2% of freight movements through the Netherlands.

Road transport

thumb|The north (and largest) section of the [[Ridderkerk interchange]]

thumb|Traffic jam on the [[A325 motorway (Netherlands)|A325 (Arnhem)]]

With 139,000 km of public roads,

Dutch roads include 3,530 km of motorways and expressways, The Netherlands' main highway network (hoofdwegennet) - comparable to Britain's network of trunk roads - consists of most of its 5,200 km of national roads, supplemented with the most prominent provincial roads. Although only about 2,500 km are fully constructed to motorway standards, much of the remainder are also expressways for fast motor vehicles only.

thumb|left|Dynamic Route Information Panel (DRIP) on the [[A13 motorway (Netherlands)|A13]]

Mobility on Dutch roads has grown continuously since the 1950s and now exceeds 200 billion km travelled per year, Goods vehicles account for 20% of total traffic. The widest Dutch motorway is the A15/A16 just south of Rotterdam with 16 lanes in a 4+4+4+4 setup.

Traffic congestion is common in the Netherlands. The high population density generates significant traffic volumes on both motorways and regular highways. Most congestion occurs in the Randstad, but congestion is a daily structural problem around many larger cities. The Netherlands tries to counter this with an advanced motorway network, with Variable Message Signs and electronic signalization across most of the network. The number of passing motor vehicles is counted every minute of the day at some 20,000 measuring stations on the Dutch motorway network. - the highest modal share of any country in the world. Moreover: 36% of the Dutch list the bike as their most frequent mode of transport on a typical day. Some 85% of the people own at least one bicycle. All in all the Dutch are estimated to have at least 18 million functioning bikes [21][22], which makes more than one per capita, and much more than the 11.3 million motor vehicles registered on the road. Almost as many passenger kilometres are covered by bicycle as by train. equal to a quarter of the country's entire road network. Busy junctions often prioritize cyclists, or they are equipped with cycle-specific traffic lights.

There are large bicycle parking facilities, particularly in city centres and at train stations. Since the start of the 21st century, parking spaces for 450,000 bicycles were built and modernized at over 400 train stations, and Dutch railways organizations ProRail and NS are calling for an expansion by another 250,000 by 2027. Already half of all Dutch train travelers cycle to the railway station, amounting to half a million cyclists daily.

Rail transport

thumb|Railway network for public transport in the Netherlands

thumb|Many trains are double-deckers

Most distance travelled on Dutch public transport goes by rail. or 3,013 route km, three quarters of which has been electrified. The network is mostly focused on passenger transport

Amsterdam Central station has been undergoing a string of reconstruction works that started in 1997, and is yet to complete.

In 2015 a consultancy comparison of Europe's railway systems found the Dutch network the most cost effective for its performance, together with Finland's. Per kilometre of track, the Dutch rail network is the busiest in the European Union, handling over a million passengers a day. For 2019 some 2.2 million train journeys are scheduled to travel a record number of 165 million train kilometres (103 million train miles) — a growth of 28%, up from 124 million km in 2004. Until 2030 ProRail projects a further growth of passenger kilometres by another 45 percent. For 2019, also 8 percent more freight trains are scheduled than in 2018. However, at the moment there are no real plans for such steps.

Public transport operators are both the public transport companies run by the local government of the cities: GVB (Amsterdam), RET (Rotterdam) and HTM (The Hague), as well as private enterprise companies like Arriva, Connexxion, Qbuzz and Keolis Nederland.

Air travel

thumb|300px|Partial aerial view of Schiphol airport

Air travel in the Netherlands peaked at a Dutch record number of over 81 million passengers in 2019.

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, located southwest of Amsterdam, is the main international airport in the Netherlands, and the third busiest airport in Europe in terms of passengers. Offering direct flights to 326 destination airports around the planet, Schiphol is the world's second best connected airport. The airport handled 63.6 million passengers in 2016, a growth of 9.1% over 2015, peaking at 71.7 million passengers in 2019.|group="nb" The airport also serves as a European hub for Delta Air Lines, and as a base for EasyJet and Vueling airlines.

In other regions there are much smaller international airports, the most prominent being Eindhoven Airport, Rotterdam The Hague Airport, Maastricht Aachen Airport and Groningen Airport. The airports of Eindhoven and Rotterdam/The Hague are both part of the Schiphol Group, and both experienced growth in 2016. Eindhoven Airport grew by 9.3% to 4.7 million passengers, whereas Rotterdam/The Hague Airport's growth was a modest 0.2%, reaching 1.6 million travellers in 2016. In the previous years Dutch airports handled 61 million air passengers in 2022, 29 million in 2021, and 23.6 million in 2020.

In 2015 Dutch airports handled passengers at a ratio of 47 million on European flights versus 18 million on intercontinental flights, and in 2013 a slightly less 1.6 million metric tons of airfreight.

Water transport

thumb|[[Bulk carrier in the Rotterdam port]]

thumb|Container ship approaching Rotterdam port

Ports and harbours

The Netherlands has thirteen seaports, Handling 34 million metric tons of cargo in 2012, this is now the third biggest Dutch seaport. For comparison: the nearby port of London handled 44 million tons in that year. Other notable port cities are Dordrecht, Haarlem and Den Helder, as well as Groningen, which controls the seaports of Delfzijl and Eemshaven. Den Helder is home to the Netherlands' main naval base.

Merchant marine

thumb|Waterways in the Netherlands

Total: 563 ships (1,000 GT or over) totaling 4,035,899 GT/
Ships by type: bulk 3, cargo 343, chemical tanker 41, combination bulk 2, container 56, liquified gas 20, livestock carrier 1, multi-functional large load carrier 8, passenger 8, petroleum tanker 25, refrigerated cargo 32, roll-on/roll-off 16, short-sea passenger 3, specialized tanker 5 (1999 est.)

note: many Dutch-owned ships are also operating under the ship registry of Netherlands Antilles (1998 est.)

Inland waters

6,237 km of rivers and canals are navigable for ships of 50 tons. Some 3,740 km of this consists of canals. At least 4,326 km of waterways are usable by craft up to 400 metric ton capacity, and over 3,000 km are usable by ships up to 1,250 metric ton capacity.

The Dutch inland shipping fleet is the biggest in Europe. Consisting of some 7,000 vessels, it takes a share of 35% of the national total annual freight transport, and as much as 80% of bulk transport. Also two thirds of all inland water freight transports within the EU, and 40% of the EU's inland container shipping, pass through the Netherlands. A technical investigation has concluded that the existing Dutch high-pressure gas infrastructure could feasibly be converted for transport of hydrogen in the future.

The Netherlands has a well-developed pipeline network essential for transporting natural gas, oil, chemicals, and CO2. Natural gas transmission network is managed by Gasunie Transport Services (GTS), it connects gas producers, storage facilities, and major consumers across the country. The network is divided into two main systems, catering to different types of gas. The low-calorific gas system primarily supplies households, while the high-calorific gas system serves industries and power plants.

Oil pipelines transport crude oil from the Port of Rotterdam to refineries in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Pernis Chemical Complex is interconnected by pipelines transporting various chemical feedstocks and products between different industrial facilities. In addition, Organic CO2 for Assimilation by Plants (OCAP) is a notable CO2 transport system that supplies purified CO2 from industrial sources to greenhouses in the Westland area for enhancing plant growth.

Government

Transport in the Netherlands falls under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. With regard to public transport, not involving national rail, a total of 14 public bodies have been delegated the authority to grant concessions to public transport operators, namely the twelve provinces, plus the two transport-regions specifically for Amsterdam and Rotterdam / The Hague. These 14 parties are united in a cooperation called "DOVA" (Decentrale Openbaar Vervoer Autoriteiten), or "Decentralised Public Transport Authorities". The provinces in turn sometimes delegate this authority to their municipalities.

Roads are controlled by authorities at all four administrative levels in the Netherlands. About 5,200 km of national roads (Rijkswegen) are controlled by central national government agency Rijkswaterstaat, and the country's twelve provinces manage about 7,800 km of provincial roads. Most motorways are national roads, and the remaining national roads are mostly expressways. Only a few motorways are provincial ones, and they are much shorter and serve mostly regional traffic. Frequently, they were previously national roads.

Municipal roads make up the bulk of the network, totalling some 120,000 km. They are mostly local roads. Aside from the division in provinces, the Netherlands is also divided in 21 water management boards. Together with miscellaneous authorities, they own and control another 7,500 km of roads.

Notes

External links

Invest in Holland – Infrastructure (by the Dutch government)
World Port Source - Map of Netherlands ports
Bureau Voorlichting Binnenvaart - Inland Navigation Promotion