Without discussing the need of a good freight transport system, it is obvious that freight transport threats the environment in many ways. The present study investigates these threats to the environment in the Netherlands as complete as possible, in order to find solutions for a less polluting and less disturbing freight transport. The aim of the study was to analyze what kinds of threats to the environment are caused by what transport modes, to what extent. A difference is made between types of air pollution and other aspects concerning the quality of life such as lack of safety and noise. Other differences are made between transport by road, inland waterway and rail, between different types of road transport vehicles and between the different commodity categories. Moreover the caused threats are related to the different kinds of origin-destination patterns in transport and to different kinds of areas in which transport takes place. Finally attention is given to ways out of the problems.
Samenvatting