The Port Vision Zwolle-Kampen-Meppel reflects the ambition of the region to position itself as a logistics hub in the northeast Netherlands, says project manager Jeroen van den Ende. “These three cities want to strengthen and cooperate together to become one harbour company. Within this, they will work together and share the opportunities and potential of quays and ports.
“If a company wants to do business in the region and knocks on the door at Kampen, but Kampen doesn’t have the space or facilities needed and perhaps Meppel does, then they will be redirected – the three ports will share the business potential. This is a strong economic region and we want to bring more business to the region. It must be better if a company looking to invest doesn’t have to bring their proposition to each city, but only to one desk. We are also planning to introduce a universal set of charges, so whether you sail your ship into Kampen, Zwolle or Meppel, you pay the same harbour fees.”
The ‘vision’ has been now been confirmed in an agreement signed by the mayor of Meppel, Jan Westmaas; the alderman of Zwolle, René de Heer; and the alderman of Kampen, Pieter Treep. Interestingly, the signing ceremony took place in Rotterdam, where the port authority is supportive of the venture, says van den Ende.
“By working together, we have one strong voice to deal with other ports – and that is the reason why we signed the agreement in Rotterdam. Both Rotterdam and Amsterdam have supported the agreement and representatives from Antwerp will visit the region in February.”
The three inland ports all handle containers moved by barge to and from the three major ports. They share the same connecting infrastructure of inland waterways and roads, and construction of the Hanzelijn railway creates an opportunity for improved rail access.
Meppel is the largest inland container port in the northern Netherlands, while Zwolle and Kampen are strong in handling bulks – including building materials, oil products, animal feedstuffs and agribulks.
Scania is a major player in the region, with a truck assembly plant at Zwolle and a smaller operation producing painted parts for cabins and chassis in Meppel. Components and finished products are transported to and from the plants in containers.
However, the partners’ vision is about more than building volumes. van den Ende is also keen to emphasise the ‘green’ aspect. “We are pushing to shift more containers from road to barge and rail,” he says. “There are two local companies that have already decided to move their cargo from road to waterway.
“We are promoting our vision to manufacturing companies – emphasising that it is the right idea to put cargo on barges and asking them what they need and what we can do for them.”
The three ports currently handle about 35,000 containers and more than 6m tonnes of break bulk cargo between them annually. There is huge potential to increase this throughput and establish the three ports as a logistics hub – with the ambition to develop further into a ‘logistic hotspot’ with an international hub function in the national and trans-European multimodal transport network, says van den Ende.
