Excellent infrastructure in the heart of Europe

Cologne is North Rhine-Westphalia's only city with over a million inhabitants and the central hub for the entire region. Its extensive network of rail, motorway and air routes makes it a major European transport centre. From here you can reach customers and business partners all over the world:

  • Three international airports can be reached in less than an hour (Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt).
  • Cologne/Bonn Airport: one of the few major German airports without a ban on night flights for cargo aircraft
  • Trimodal freight centre Cologne Eifeltor: Germany's largest and most efficient reloading site for combined freight transportation
  • The second-largest domestic port of Germany with direct connection to the world’s largest seaports in Rotterdam/Netherlands
  • Western Europe's central highways converge in Cologne – Ten highways depart in all possible directions
  • Cologne is the continent's busiest railway junction: International high-speed routes connect the city to Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris in record time

Market-leading logistics companies

Considering Cologne's ideal geographical location and excellent infrastructure, it is hardly surprising that the logistics and wholesale industry is one of the strongest sectors in Cologne. The city has a dense network of competitive logistics companies providing services for industry and commerce:

  • Cologne's biggest economic sector in terms of turnover: nearly 94 billion Euros each year
  • 4.500 local logistics and trading companies with 79.000 employees
  • 28 percent employment growth in Cologne's logistics and retail sector between 2008 and 2020
  • Eighteen of the twenty largest national logistics companies operate a branch or a distribution centre in the city, including leading international providers such as Deutsche Post DHL, DB Schenker and Dachser
- KölnBusiness

Cologne's infrastructure: expert perspectives

Industry expert Katja Wittke reveals the city's key strengths and future prospects of Cologne's logistics sector in our interview.

Read the interview
- KölnBusiness

Cologne Bonn Airport - the logistical heart of NRW

Around 971,000 tonnes of freight are handled at Cologne Bonn Airport yearly. For more exciting facts, check out our photo gallery.

Take off now
- KölnBusiness

Eifeltor – Germany's largest reloading site

Around 200 start or end here every week. We have put together this and other facts in our picture gallery.

Discover Eifeltor

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