The Dutch government will financially support companies in the Netherlands that want to shift transport volumes from road to rail or barge. An amount of 2.5 million euros has been set aside for this. This was announced by Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management Cora van Nieuwenhuizen and State Secretary Stientje Van Veldhoven.

Minister Van Nieuwenhuizen: “We must relieve our roads and industry and port complexes must remain accessible. That is not a wish but a necessity. With this scheme we can remove at least 1,000 trucks per day from the road. And not unimportantly: this is a helping hand for entrepreneurs so that they can really make the shift.”

State Secretary van Veldhoven: “It takes guts to make the switch from road to water or rail. It requires a different way of thinking from entrepreneurs, because of course transport by ship or train is different than by truck. But it is necessary that we make the switch, in order to make the transport sector more sustainable. ”

Application until 1 September

Eligible for the financial support are logistics companies providing small or medium-sized transports and bundling cargo. Entrepreneurs who want to work on a modal shift can submit an application now with a maximum of 500,000 euros per project. This requires that they come up with a concrete proposal on how they want to move goods from road to water or rail.

Proposals for a shift from truck to train should apply to the Netherlands. For rail projects, there is 1 million euros (there is another 1.5 million for barge projects). Applications can be submitted to the executive organization Connekt until 1 September 2021 at the latest.