2 The Dutch transport sector: economic
CHARACTERISTICS AND GENERAL DEVELOPMENTS
Transport is a significant sector in the Dutch economy.2 Gross added value of the
transport sector amounts to 6.9 percent (22,900 million euro) of the gross added value of
the Dutch economy as a whole (352,200 million euro) (Ministry of Transport 1999a). Of
the working population in The Netherlands (7,724 000 people), 5.4 percent (419,000
people)3 works in the broad transport sector (Ministry of Transport, Goods Transport,
1999). The transport sector can be divided into transport 'over land', which includes road
haulage and rail carriage; transport 'over water' which includes sea freight and inland
shipping; air transport; and services with regard to the transport sector. Each category
includes the transport of both freight and people.
2.1 Road transport
Road transport4 is the main and rapidly growing category of the Dutch transport sector.
The road transport sector covers several subsectors, which are characterised by varying
activities. A broad distinction can be made between road transport of people and road
haulage of freight. In a decade (1986-1996), the number of undertakings in the category
of road haulage of freight has increased by one-third and employment has grown by 44
percent. Road haulage of people, particularly by taxi, has increased as well. The number
of companies in this category has risen by 40 percent and employment has increased by
90 percent (CBS, Zakboek Verkeer en Vervoer, 1997).
The vast majority of the companies in road haulage (about 80 percent) are smaller
companies with less than 10 employees. However, most of the people working in road
transport (about 45 percent) are employed by medium-sized companies. The large
companies with more than 100 employees (1 percent of all companies) employ 35 percent
of all people working in road transport (see Table 1.).
The Standaard Bedrijfsindeling 1993 (the Dutch equivalent of the NACE classification system) of the Central
Statistics Office (CBS) divides the transport sector into transport 'over land' (60), which includes road haulage
(601), rail carriage (602) and transport through pipelines (603); transport 'over water' (61) which includes sea
freight (611) and inland shipping (612); air transport (62); and services with regard to the transport sector (63).
Each category includes the transport of both freight and people. When we discuss the transport sector as a whole,
we refer to all these activities. We try to leave out the services with regard to air transport.
This figure also includes people working in communication.
The road haulage sector includes the following activities:
- organised transport of people (6021). This category includes public transport and organised private transport.
Organised private transport includes haulage by bus of a closed group of persons according to a schedule with
fixed routes and times of departure; unorganised transport includes the haulage of e.g. tourists and other
groups (CBS, SBI 1993)
- unorganised transport of people by taxi (6022)
- unorganised transport of people by bus (6023).
- road haulage of freight (6024).