General

Merchant shipping has always been of great economic importance to the sea-going Dutch. The Netherlands Maritime Institute is internationally famous, and the Dutch ship-testing station at Wageningen is known for its research in marine engineering. The Dutch merchant marine had 566 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totalling 5,210,664 GRT in 2007. Emphasis has been placed on the development of new vessels suitable for container transport and on improving the Dutch tanker fleet. Rotterdam is the Netherlands' chief port and the world's largest. There are also ports and harbours at Amsterdam, Delfzijl, Dordrecht, Eemshaven, Groningen, Haarlem, Ijmuiden, Maastricht, Terneuzen and Utrecht.

In 2005, there were 6,183 km (3,842 mi) of navigable waterways. There are 2,811 km (1,747 mi) of railroads, including 2,064 km (1,283 mi) electrified, in 2006. Passenger transport on railways is subsidized as part of the national policy for promoting public transport.

Public transport is provided for urban areas by municipal and regional transport companies, and minibus service in rural areas has ensured public transport for all towns with 1,000 residents or more. Also in 2004, there were 134,000 km (83,264 mi) of roadways, including 3,270 km (2,032 mi) of expressways. Motor vehicles in use in 2001 included 5,982,000 passenger cars and 831,175 commercial vehicles. The state subsidizes the construction of urban and rural cycle paths.

In 2007, there were 27 airports, 20 with paved runways. Principal airports include Schiphol at Amsterdam, Reina Beatrix at Aruba and Hato at Curacao. The world's first airline from the standpoint of continuous corporate existence and operation is Royal Dutch Airlines (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij-KLM), which began regularly scheduled operations in 1920. KLM serves some 115 cities in 70 countries. Also in 2001, 20,474,000 passengers were carried on domestic and international flights.

Overview

Airports:
27 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 20
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 9
1,524 to 2,437 m: 3
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 2 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 7
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 4 (2007)

Heliports:
1 (2007)

Pipelines:
condensate 81 km; gas 7,229 km; oil 578 km; refined products 716 km (2006)

Railways:
total: 2,811 km
standard gauge: 2,811 km 1.435-m gauge (2,064 km electrified) (2006)