Düsseldorf | Munich, 5. October 2015 - For the seventh time, LogistikCluster NRW and NRW.INVEST GmbH have been searching for the "Logistics Location of the Year in NRW". Ten cities, municipalities and associations applied for this award for excellence. The award was presented to Dr. Manfred Janssen, Director of the Rheine Business Development Corporation, by Minister for Economic Affairs Garrett Duin, during the Expo Real commercial properties trade fair in Munich.
The city of Rheine has won the competition for "Logistics Location of the Year 2015 in NRW", an accolade it already achieved once before in 2011 (at that time together with Greven). Rheine impressed both with its well-organized logistics network, which supported the location with the voting, as well as its ability to meet the other hard criteria. For example, Rheine scored well with its port and rail links via the cargo transport center, thereby showing its strengths as a multimodal location.
Several specialized logistics companies are based in Rheine, for example Dachser, Wanning, and KLM, and as such it occupies a strong position. Transport and logistics firms in Rheine benefit from its central location between Münster, Osnabrück and Enschede (NL) and its proximity to the East-West axis between the Netherlands and Poland (A30), and the North-South axis to Hamburg (A1). Furthermore, the new "Logistics Location of the Year 2015" offers well-developed highways, and also direct links to the Dortmund-Elms Canal as well as the hinterland connection to the North Sea ports.
"Rheine forms a strong logistics location in North Rhine-Westphalia", says cluster manager Peter Abelmann. "We are happy that in 2015, the winning location is one whose main focus has been logistics for many years. Rheine is the first location to have won the competition twice. This once again demonstrates its quality. We hope that by winning this award we can raise the professional public's awareness of the location even more."
Above all, this special award should serve to help further promote the image of the winning location to both the professional and the wider population. Minister Duin presented the award together with Petra Wassner, CEO of NRW.INVEST and Frank Oelschläger, representative of LogistikCluster NRW, at the Munich real estate fair. Minister Duin emphasized, "The logistics location Rheine has been booming noticeably for quite a while. This can be attributed to its hard work in the presentation of its own logistics both internally and externally. The logistics industry initiative and close cooperation with the firms have played a particularly important part."
The competition for "Logistics Location of the Year 2015 in NRW" is unique in that it combines hard criteria (employment figures, transport links, successful settlement projects and sites) with online voting by the professional public. The online vote took place between July and September via the website www.logistikcluster-nrw.de. Over 1,500 logistics providers voted for their favorite location. Altogether, ten cities, municipalities and associations put themselves to the vote. The district of Unna came second after Rheine, and the last mile logistics network of Herne/Herten/Gelsenkirchen came third. The competition will be held again next year, conducted by LogistikCluster NRW and NRW.INVEST GmbH.
