A famous line in Hamlet aside, few have anything bad to say about Denmark. In fact, there is much to recommend the country, from the beauty of its historic capital, Copenhagen, to the Wadden Sea national park.
The increasing number of transport logistics companies locating to the country see other attractions, however. A land connection with Europe, strong links to the rest of Scandinavia and an efficient digital infrastructure have proved irresistible to the likes of DHL and FedEx Express, among many others.
So, geography is not the only factor when international transportation and logistics companies decide to base themselves in a location. A strong infrastructure – both the physical and digital – as well as sustainable solutions are also highly significant. The key word is accessibility.
FedEx Express has a new cargo terminal at Copenhagen Airport, which will sort more than 10,000 packages a day while DHL has decided to make Copenhagen its Nordic hub.
Paul Dhami, business development manager at Copenhagen Capacity, which assists transportation companies in establishing their business in Copenhagen, says accessibility, both physical and virtual, is the main driver for success. A number of major bridges, Copenhagen-Malmo Port, and of course, the airport itself, facilitate physical connections.
The digital infrastructure is even more impressive though and is rated higher than England’s or Germany’s. It’s good enough for Apple to have chosen Denmark for its largest European project to date with a data centre in Viborg. Across Scandinavia, there are a significant number of e-commerce ready consumers and the region has one of the highest online shopping rates in the world.
There are financial considerations too, Dhami advises. GDP per capita in Scandinavia is nine per cent higher than Germany and an extraordinary 28 per cent better than the UK.
In Denmark itself, corporate tax is one of the lowest in the region and will drop to 22 per cent in 2016. And for companies registered in Denmark and abroad, there is no double taxation, making Copenhagen an ideal headquarters choice for a foreign company. It’s no surprise that Denmark was ranked the easiest country to run business in Europe in 2012-2015 by the World Bank.
Clearly, there is nothing rotten in the state of Denmark.
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