The Benelux Seaport System

The Benelux seaport system is among the most diversified in the world. It includes a series of specialized, niche ports, and two mainports in the full meaning of the word, Rotterdam and Antwerp. In their shadow, a second‐order hub port, Zeebrugge, is gaining increasing recognition in port and shipowners' circles. The future of the ports is partly in then‐own bands, and partly beyond their control, as their prosperity is also conditioned by their hinterland relationships. The most original part of the article deals with a coherent structuring of their West‐East and North‐South intermodal links in a Benelux and European perspective, rather than taking into account sub‐optimal national interests. The case for a new, high‐capacity Rotterdam‐Antwerp‐Lille railway line, with a Zeebrugge‐Ghent branch is explored.