Companies going international should definitely look into the Benelux, or a bit broader, into the so-called Blue Banana region which also includes parts of the UK, the West of Germany, Switzerland, and Northern Italy with Milan as its main city.

Two main mega ports

Rotterdam and Antwerp are two of the mega-ports via which goods from all over the world reach Europe. They are only 120 km away from each other. Via the road it would take you between 1,5 and 3 hours to get to the other port, depending on the traffic. The highway lies in one of the most densely populated areas of Europe. As the featured image with this blog post shows, Rotterdam seems to end nowhere … and if you would take a boat trip in the port of Antwerp, you’d be surprised how little you have seen from that port after several hours on the water.

For companies in regions as the Baltics, or the Mediterranean countries looking for an interesting export market, Flanders (the northern part of Belgium) and Holland (the middle of the Netherlands) offer a huge potential. Now that many manufacturing companies are rethinking their supply lines, and want to reduce their dependency on China and the South-East of the world, there is a growing untapped potential for most European countries to do business with this part of Europe. Given the high labor cost in this area, and the various logistics connections, it does not take much to tap this potential. You only have to start doing it and have the right partners to help you navigate the potential culture clash.

Blue Banana is highest GDP density region in Europe

The Benelux is at the very heart of the so-called Blue Banana region. This name was first coined in the 1980s by geographer Roger Brunet to illustrate the densely populated and industrialised backbone of Europe. The shape of that backbone is the shape of a banana, and the blue colour depicts the massive economic activity that takes place in this region. The east of the Blue Banana starts with Manchester and London in the UK. Then it stretches over Holland and Flanders. Via West-Germany it starts to bend down to Switzerland, to end in Milan in the North of Italy. Although it is a fairly small area, some numbers show its importance. The average population density is 500 people per square km, whereas the average in Europe is roughly 30 people per square km. The region accounts for 22% of the total European GDP, whereas it measures only 4% of the total European surface.

The historic origin of this economic importance goes back to the industrialisation of the world. Before World War I, the UK and Belgium were the two biggest industrial producers of the world. The area includes major transportation corridors, such as highways, rail networks, and waterways, facilitating trade and mobility between the two mega-ports of Europe and mainland Europe.

Looking for a market? At least have a look at the Blue Banana first…

About Jan Lagast …

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