Transportation and Logistics Market Insights—The Netherlands

The Netherlands’ economic growth is primarily driven by the increasing private consumption and the improving transport infrastructure. The country's geographical location favors trade with countries in Northern Europe and helps attract foreign investors. A key long-term factor that will contribute to the enrichment of the Dutch economy is the constructive partnership between trade unions, the government, and companies. GDP growth is projected to remain at or just over 2.0% in 2017-18. Private consumption growth will stay solid through the forecast period as wage growth picks up and as unemployment declines further. Business and residential investment will remain strong, both supported by rising confidence. The Netherlands is a member of the European Union and the European Monetary Union and has multilateral and bilateral trade agreements with several countries. The government has taken initiatives to streamline regulations, promote competition, and encourage entrepreneurship to support growth.

Digitization will be the key factor driving the transportation sector. The major automotive ecosystem participants are investing in infrastructure development. Tech start-up companies are launching innovative products; however, only a few companies combine the old industrial knowledge with the new IT skills.

DHL Netherlands' test version of an augmented reality (AR) application in a warehouse proved that the use of wearables and AR technology will reduce turnaround time and picking operations by 25.0%. Many companies are working on virtual reality (VR) technologies as well. Approximately 30 VR start-up companies are based out of Holland. The Dutch Institute for Advanced Logistics (Dinlog) is a logistics and supply chain innovation program that aims to make the Netherlands a European market leader in terms of the transnational flow of goods by 2020. The government has invested €25 million in this programme. In 2013, Heineken used an HGV electric truck in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are used to transport goods in warehouses. The human-robot collaboration works using advanced sensor technologies. Drone delivery is another rising trend; Amazon, in particular, aims to use drone delivery over the next 5 years. The trend that could have the largest long-term impact is 3D printing (in the development stage at present).

Scope:
The aim of this insight is to research and analyze the key developments and trends related to economy and trade and the freight, transportation, logistics, and warehousing sectors in the Netherlands.

Objectives:
• To provide an overview of the key factors driving the Netherlands' economy and trade
• To analyze the role of the transport and logistics sector in driving the country’s economy
• To identify the initiatives undertaken by the government to improve efficiency and reduce logistics costs
• To furnish a detailed analysis of the advancements in digital technologies
• To provide an in-depth analysis of how the traditional value chain is being transformed as a result of technology advancements , e-Commerce growth, regulatory changes, and investment
• To identify the emerging opportunities as a result of economic and technology transformations and how they are expected to change the competitive environment