Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Rotterdam is a city in the Netherlands, in South Holland within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt river delta at the North Sea, and has a population of 633,471 (2017). It is the second-largest city in the Netherlands, just behind Amsterdam. The metropolitan region has 2,261,844 inhabitants (2014).

The most important economic driver of Rotterdam is the strategically situated port known as the ‘Gateway to Europe’. In this port, goods from all over the world are imported, processed further and transported to the hinterland. The location in the Randstad strengthens the international reach of Rotterdam further.

Well-known companies with headquarters in Rotterdam are consumers goods company Unilever, asset management firm Robeco, energy company Eneco, dredging company Van Oord, oil company Shell Downstream, terminal operator Vopak, commodity trading company Vitol and architecture firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

Rotterdam has one major university, the Erasmus University Rotterdam, named after one of the city's famous former inhabitants, Desiderius Erasmus.

Sources:

• City of Rotterdam Regional Steering Committee (2009), “The City of Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Self-Evaluation Report”, OECD Reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development, IMHE, http://www.oecd.org/edu/imhe/regionaldevelopment
• Wikipedia