Amsterdam Ports, the seaports in and around the capital of the Netherlands, make it the number 5 of Europe’s continental top 11 maritime hubs. In the year 2000 has handled over 60 million tons of cargo. And despite having 700 years of tradition Amsterdam Ports is looking to the future. New and spacious business sites and terminals in its modern port area, the new Afrika harbor with additionally 275 hectares of land, the all weather terminal, the new Ceres container terminal with capacity of 1 million TEU and the new passenger terminal for cruise ships, these are all examples of new and promising developments in the area.
Amsterdam Ports not only transships goods, it especially processes them – annually adding a total value of Euro 3,5 billion (US$ 4 billion) and employing around 38,000 people in port-related sectors. As a comparison: in Rotterdam a total transshipment of 300 million tons annually take place, with 70.000 people. In short, the Amsterdam Ports is where shipping, industry and (value added) logistics come together. In time, a few strong industrial clusters have developed like food, chemicals, automotive and logistics. These have therefore also been chosen as strategic sectors on which marketing-and-sales efforts will be focused.