Amsterdam Airport Schiphol was
officially opened on February 13, 2002 and will begin operating
the new main runway in phases. In the first stage, the runway will
be open only for flight operations at night but will start operating
more frequently during the daytime from July 2003. The fifth runway,
or "Polderbaan" as it has been named in the Netherlands,
is essential for maintaining Schiphol's position as a European hub.
The new runway will allow the airport to absorb air traffic growth
and continue to compete with other major European airports. Because
of its position, Schiphol is a major driver of the Dutch economy,
generating direct employment for some 55,000 people. With the ultimate
aim to service 85 million passengers annually, plans for two new
runways and a second terminal are underway; the related control
tower is already under construction.
(Source: AAA Matters) |
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Dutch inland shippers currently
account for 36% of all inland shipping in the European Union and
the ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam are major players in the sector,
according to the Eurostat study, Statistics in Focus.
Inland shipping only accounts for around 7% of all internal goods
traffic and only six of the 15 EU member states have a substantial
involvement in the industry. By comparison, road haulage makes up
75% of the total, the railways 13% and pipelines 5%. The Netherlands
and Germany together provide three-quarters of all European inland
shipping, while France and Belgium jointly have a 20% share and
Austria and Luxembourg handle the balance. More than half of all
inland voyages within the EU cover a distance of 150-500 kilometers
and four-fifths of these journeys are in Dutch or German territory.
Just over 60% of all inland shipping traffic in the EU is international.
More than a quarter is internal and 11% is transit traffic. Since
the deregulation of inland shipping in January 2000 and the modernization
of the fleet, the industry has been growing everywhere. One advantage
of this is environmental friendliness. The most important products
shipped are crude oil, petroleum, minerals, building materials,
ores and scrap metal. The Dutch industry witnessed the second-largest
growth rate during the 1990s, at 10%. That was double the figure
for Germany. But industry growth in the Netherlands has been clearly
slowing since 1997.
(Source: www.portpress.com) |
