LIMBURG - Economy
An international outlook
It comes as no surprise that economic activity in a province that is almost totally surrounded by Belgium and Germany is highly export-oriented. This is true for both larger companies, which account for a high proportion of Limburg's industrial sector, and small and medium-sized businesses. Exports account for a large share of turnover in various sectors: agriculture and the manufacturing and services industries are all internationally oriented. The overall export percentage is over 60%.
Large companies, which are often branches of foreign firms, play an important role in the regional economy and include NedCar, DSM, Sabic, Sphinx, Rank Xerox, Océ, Sappi and Medtronic. The biggest sectors, in which large companies are well represented, are metalworking and chemicals. In the services sector, transport and distribution play a dominant part.
With its container terminal, Europe's biggest dry port, Venlo provides 10 000 jobs in the transport sector; the companies located here include haulier Frans Maas, which operates in a large number of countries. Maastricht Aachen Airport also has an increasingly important position. Over 200 foreign companies have set up operations in Limburg. A further example of the province?s international outlook can be found in Maastricht, which is home to a large number of international institutions and is becoming a popular venue for international conferences. Above all, Limburg?s international outlook means that it has cooperated closely with adjacent areas in Belgium and Germany for many years now, a good example of Euregio co-operation.
The important role of industry
The importance of industry in Limburg's economy goes back a long way. The share of manufacturing in regional production and employment in Limburg is 50% higher than the national average. The industrial landscape in Limburg is largely dominated by the chemicals and plastics industries, metalworking and mechanical engineering and the manufacture of building materials, earthenware and glass products.
The international character of Limburg?s industrial sector is demonstrated by the level of foreign investment in Limburg: one in six workers is employed by a company that is part of a foreign corporate group, such as Rank Xerox (USA), Rockwool (Denmark), Hoechst (Germany), ENCI (Belgium) and Mosa (France).
Agriculture
In 2002 Limburg had 5 436 businesses dedicated largely to agriculture. These are active in market gardening (27.4%), arable farming (15.0%), cattle-rearing (24.9%) or pig and poultry farming (14.7%) and combined activities (18.0%). Livestock held on these farms include 15 587 601 chickens, 1 642 054 pigs, 160 191 cows, 38 915 sheep, 11 730 goats and 9 561 horses and ponies. In 2002, farmland totalled 10 638 568 acres. In 2001 0.5% of Limburg?s arable land was farmed using organic methods whereas 0.6% was in the process of being converted to organic farming.
Transport
In the past ten years the number of cars per thousand inhabitants in Limburg rose by almost 18% to 434 in 2003. In the same period the popularity of motorcycles increased by almost 78% to 32 per thousand inhabitants in the year 2003. In the same period, the stock of commercial vehicles grew by over 50% to 66 234 in 2003.
The province of Limburg has 220 kilometres of motorways and 510 kilometres of major dual carriageways. The motorway infrastructure is adequately laid out to connect most parts of Limburg to the Amsterdam/Rotterdam conurbation and to Brussels, Antwerp, Liège and Cologne, but there is still a gap between Venlo and the south. This gap will be closed between 2004 and 2008. From 2007 to 2012, a tunnel will be built to ease the passage of the E25 motorway through the city of Maastricht. Major dual carriageways must be extended to cope with local congestion, to alleviate traffic around towns and to improve access to neighbouring Germany.
The public bus transport network is more highly developed in the urban south than in the rural central and north of the province. In 2002, South Limburg had 1.5 bus stops per 1 000 inhabitants, offering 66.1 departures a day. In Central and North Limburg these figures are 1.6 and 43.0 respectively.
There are 34 passenger stations on the Limburg rail network. Passenger trains depart from Venlo and Heerlen to Germany and from Maastricht to Belgium. Plans are being made to build an integrated cross-border light rail system to improve services to Aachen and Liège, from where there are high-speed passenger services to Cologne, Brussels and Paris. There are also 9 freight stations on the rail network, with freight lines to Germany from Venlo, Roermond and Heerlen and to Liège from Maastricht. There are also plans to reopen a historic line to Lanaken in Flanders. Limburg has two Trans European Inland Terminals both offering daily services to the main ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp. Venlo has road and rail facilities and Born has a road, rail and barge terminal.
Maastricht Aachen Airport, which is home to various well-known distribution companies, also serves the logistic hub at Born. In 2002 the airport recorded 4 606 departures and 4 603 arrivals, moving 312 333 passengers and 39 477 tonnes of freight. Limburg?s waterways are served by eight harbours. The river Meuse and Juliana canal are being improved to make them more suitable for large barges. These waterways connect Liège to the Amsterdam/Rotterdam conurbation.
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