Cold calling in South Holland: Rotterdam port, The Hague and the greenhouses

B2B calling in South Holland means working the province with the most companies in the Netherlands. CBS counted 563,050 business establishments on 1 January 2026 (provisional), and two thirds of them sit in the Rotterdam and The Hague areas. The economy around them is unusually varied: the port of Rotterdam handled 428.4 million tonnes in 2025, the largest port in Europe, while The Hague runs on government, international organisations and the services around them.

The economy of South Holland

In the Eurostat count of local units for 2024, professional, scientific and technical services come first with 123,687 units. What stands out is construction in second place with 89,673 units, ahead of trade (79,333). Health and social care (70,631), administrative and support services (39,766) and education (33,476) follow. Agriculture is not in that dataset. CBS puts government and healthcare at 24.4% of the province's value added, trade, transport and hospitality at 22.0% and business services at 17.0%. The economy grew 1.6% in 2025.

Four clusters to know:

• The port and industrial complex of Rotterdam. Besides the 428.4 million tonnes, the port handled 14.2 million TEU of containers in 2025, up 3.1%. Refineries, chemicals, tank storage, terminals, shipping agents, freight forwarders and maritime service firms stretch from the city to the Maasvlakte.
• The Hague. Ministries, parliament, international courts and organisations, embassies and the consultancies, IT suppliers, security firms and event venues that serve them.
• Greenport West-Holland. CBS counts 4,732 hectares of greenhouses and 1,300 greenhouse farms in South Holland in 2025, 47% of the national greenhouse area. The Westland alone has 2,532 hectares.
• Knowledge in Leiden and Delft. At the Leiden Bio Science Park, over 11,700 people work at 430 companies (BCI study, 2024). Delft adds TU Delft and a cluster of engineering and tech firms.

Where the companies are

• Rotterdam (673,804 inhabitants on 1 January 2026). Port, logistics, maritime services, offices along the Maas, wholesale and a large group of construction and installation firms. Greater Rijnmond counted 219,600 establishments.
• The Hague (569,468). Government, international organisations, legal services, IT and consultancy. The Greater The Hague area counted 148,920 establishments.
• Leiden (130,328) and the Bulb Region. Life sciences, the university and its spin-offs, and bulb growers and traders between Leiden and Lisse.
• Delft (110,089) and Westland (118,874). Engineering and tech in Delft, horticulture, trade and greenhouse suppliers in the Westland.
• Dordrecht (122,991) and the Drechtsteden. Maritime industry, shipbuilding suppliers, metal and logistics along the rivers.
• Zoetermeer (130,836). Offices, service centres and business parks along the A12.

Who to call and what to ask

• Operations, terminal or logistics manager at port and transport companies.
• Owner or managing director at growers, builders, installers and family businesses in the Westland and the Drechtsteden.
• Facility, purchasing or contract manager at larger organisations in The Hague. Keep in mind that public bodies buy through tenders; a call there is to learn and to get on the radar, not to close.
• Founder or lab manager at life science and tech companies in Leiden and Delft.

Discovery questions that fit South Holland:

1. Which part of your work runs through the port, and how did the past year go?
2. Do you sell to government, and if so, how do you handle tenders?
3. For growers: what is the biggest cost question for your greenhouses this season?
4. How many sites do you have in the region, and who decides for all of them?
5. When does your current contract end, and who will be involved when it does?

Our guide on writing a cold calling script shows how to turn these into a call flow.

Calling in South Holland

• Language. Business is done in Dutch. In the port and at international organisations in The Hague, English is common, so be ready to switch.
• Timing. Growers are busiest early in the day and in peak season, port operations run around the clock. Ask when a call fits, and see the best time to cold call.
• Direct tone. Rotterdam buyers in particular appreciate a short, concrete reason for the call. Say what you do in one sentence and ask a question.
• Where owners meet. VNO-NCW West runs regional networks for Rotterdam, The Hague, Delft, Rijnland, Westland-Delfland and Oostland. Deltalinqs connects companies in the Rotterdam port, and InnovationQuarter supports tech start-ups and scale-ups in the province. The KVK runs events across the region.
• Rules. You may call companies with legal personality, such as a BV or NV. Since 1 July 2026, sales calls to sole traders and partnerships such as a vof need prior consent. Respect objections and handle personal data with care. This is general information, not legal advice; read cold calling rules in Belgium and the Netherlands.

One more signal: CBS reports that bankruptcies in South Holland fell 17.6% in 2025, and the share of new businesses was among the highest in the country in 2024. A fresh list goes stale fast here, so check numbers and names before each campaign.

A first week of calling in South Holland

1. Day 1: choose one cluster. Port, The Hague, greenhouses or the Drechtsteden. Do not mix them in one list.
2. Day 2: adapt the script. Use the cluster's own words: terminals and forwarders, tenders, growing season, yards.
3. Days 3 and 4: call in blocks and log every outcome, including the call-back moments people give you.
4. Day 5: follow up and plan the next attempt for every lead that did not answer.

See how that looks in practice in the demo.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. CBS StatLine: Vestigingen van bedrijven; bedrijfstak, regio (table 81578NED), 1 January 2026
2. CBS StatLine: Bevolking op 1 januari; geslacht, leeftijd en regio (table 03759ned), 1 January 2026
3. Eurostat: Enterprises by NUTS 2 region and NACE Rev. 2 activity (sbs_r_nuts2021), 2024
4. Port of Rotterdam: Throughput in the port of Rotterdam shows a slight decline (26 February 2026)
5. CBS StatLine: Landbouw; gewassen, dieren en grondgebruik naar gemeente (table 80781ned), 2025
6. Leiden University: Leiden Bio Science Park fastest growing of the larger campuses in the Netherlands (December 2024)
7. CBS: De regionale economie 2025, chapter 2 Economische groei
8. CBS: De regionale economie 2025, chapter 3 Bedrijven

• Cold calling script: a B2B template that books meetings
• Best time to make cold calls: what the studies say and how to test it