logistik initiative duisburg niederrhein

The region

The Lower Rhine area is one of the most important logistics regions in Europe. Well known transportation and transhipment region the evolution of haulage companies and close key player interaction have today formed an acknowledged logistics region. Many functions along the entire production chain are now assumed by logistics companies, for example. Groundbreaking developments are under way. Exemplary model approaches have led to the Duisburg/Lower Rhine region becoming accepted as a European logistics hub with advantages over other regions.

The Duisburg/Lower Rhine region is intersected by European arterial roads, waterways and railroads. Inter alia the largest European inland port, numerous trimodal large-scale transshipment facilities and a dense network of international railways can be found in this area. In addition Weeze Airport and Düsseldorf International Airport, situated in the west and south of the region respectively, offer fast national and international linkages.

The economic region is thus widely considered to be a “logistics hub” whose importance derived from its central location at the interface between the Ruhr area and other logistics sites along the Rhine in addition to its excellent connections to the Netherlands.

The region also possesses research association renowned in the field of transportation and logistics, such as the University of Duisburg Essen, Fraunhofer Institute of Microelectronic Circuitry and Systems (IMS) and the Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transport Systems that provide new points of departure for innovation. Duisburg is one of the prime locations when it comes to developing congestion prediction models.The “Ruhrpilot” traffic management system is being developed to improve the traffic flow in the Ruhr area. Fraunhofer Institute is conducting research on RFID-technology which will monitor for example cold chains and provide safety-related information regarding transport processes.

The most important logistics sector players have already established themselves in this region. The appeal of the region has increased in recent years as is impressively demonstrated by the establishment of new large-scale business premises by the following companies for instance: Wincanton transeuropean (formerly P&O transeuropean), New Wave Logistics, Kühne & Nagel, Geodis Logistics, Interspe Hamann, Rhenus, CM Eurologistik, Cobelfret or EH Harms.