The Netherlands remains a profitable location for long-term logistics operations from a cost and quality perspective. This can be concluded from the benchmark study 'The Netherlands: A profitable location for long-term logistics operations'. This study benchmarks four countries (Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands) in terms of their attractiveness for establishing a new European Distribution Center.

Four European countries compared in this benchmark study, conducted by NDL/HIDC and partners, Groenewout, ICA and Mazars, four countries (Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands) were benchmarked and ranked in terms of their attractiveness for establishing a new European Distribution Center in the electronics industry. The business case incorporates real estate and supply-chain modeling, inbound and outbound product flows to various European regions, operational cost projections, regional incentives schemes and exit costs to devise a 10-year net present-value model. Direct and indirect tax (i.e. VAT) considerations have been added to make this business case as complete as possible.

With this benchmark study, NDL/HIDC offers international companies a tool to support their decision-making process.

The Netherlands is favorable in terms of total supply chain costs, quality and flexibility

The findings of this latest benchmark show that, although the competition of the neighboring countries is fierce, the Netherlands remains an attractive location for long-term logistics operations. In the Netherlands relatively efficient property and closing costs yield a high residual value on logistics property, which is key to value realization of the property. With a corporate tax of only 25% and an effective tax rate that may be far lower, the Netherlands ranks first on this scale. In addition, the corporate tax system in the Netherlands allows for VAT deferment, offering extensive cash benefits. In addition, due to very flexible temporary labor regulations in the Netherlands, it is possible to help streamline fluctuations in production cycles and reduce overall labor costs.

Overall, the Netherlands has the strongest location value proposition in the benchmark study. It is positioned strategically and has a good logistics infrastructure (i.e. lead times) between main markets such as the United Kingdom, Germany and France. This makes the Netherlands a profitable location for long-term logistics operations.