SmartPort Community lunchmeeting March 27th 12.00-13.30 T03-42

Dear Colleagues,

In this lunch meeting Hein Klemann, professor in Social and Economic History at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, will give a presentation. He will address the question how it is possible that inland navigation, and with that the Netherlands as transit country, came back. From the mid-nineteenth century, almost everywhere else, inland navigation lost its position never to recover. Railways took over, and as the Netherlands had no good rail connection to its ports, Dutch transit trade between Germany and the sea seemed history. In the 1870s and 80s, German industrialist in the Ruhr area and other important industrial areas in Western Germany had chosen for Antwerp as their port and rail transport as the connection between their industry and the seas. From the 1890s Rotterdam became dominant, however, and inland navigation recovered its position. The question is why?

Location T3-42 (T building, 3^rd floor, roomnr. 42)

Time: 12.00-13.30

Hope to see you there.

Rob Zuidwijk/Bart Kuipers