International
Economic Region
Cologne, the city on the Rhine with one million inhabitants, is equally established as a center of culture and commerce.
Numerous internationally renowned companies have chosen Cologne as a base for their activities in Germany or even the whole of Europe. Its central location and excellent transport links, its outstanding economic power, its leading role as a media and communications center as well as the remarkable quality of life, make Cologne the location of choice for industrial companies as well as for trading activities and the expanding market of communications.
The high quality of the region's location is demonstrated by the fact that foreign companies of world renown have chosen to settle in Cologne and have never regretted their decision. More than a thousand companies of foreign origin are based in Cologne. The CCI Cologne would like to encourage you to follow their example, because nothing is more convincing than success.
Cologne is one of Germany's oldest city and was valued by the Romans as the headquarters for their operations in what was then Germania. Cologne also played a central role in the commercial life of the Middle Ages, and was mentioned in the same breath as London, Paris and Milan. At that time, the foundations were laid for the city's cultural diversity. Cologne's role as a transshipment point for goods from the Netherlands gave the city the wealth to build many sacred monuments - climaxing in the world-famous Cologne Cathedral.
The optimal traffic connections at the heart of Europe are still its strongest selling point. Whether by land, water or air: Cologne lies at the center, all roads lead to Cologne. In recent times, it has also played its role as an up-and-coming media and communications center that has made the Cathedral city popular throughout Germany and Europe.
But Cologne has another, very private side to it: the flair of the city and its surroundings, the incomparable quality of life that enchants everyone who has ever enjoyed it.
At the heart of Europe
The Rhine has been Western Europe's number one waterway for more than 2,000 years. From the very beginning, Cologne has played a leading role in the transhipment of goods from North to South, from East to West. Thus, during the Middle Ages, Cologne developed the prosperity which helped the city become a European center of Culture.
150 years ago, as the railways expanded their network across Europes, one of the continent's largest stations was built: over one thousand passenger trains today cross the Hohenzollern Bridge to stop at the central station in the shadow of the Cathedral. Cologne is also equipped for the future: today ICE connections exist with all major German cities. As a hub of the European highspeed network, Cologne links Paris and Brussels with Frankfurt am Main. Cologne's Südbrücke (South Bridge) is Germany's frequently used freight train route, and the Eifeltor container and transshipment terminal is the country’s largest.
With the advent of the motor car, Cologne also became a first-class motorway junction: Western Europe's main trunk routes converge in Cologne. And finally, air traffic: the airport, situated in the south of Cologne has seen passenger numbers rise year on year and is Germany's second largest cargo airport. But if that is not enough: only a few kilometers north of Cologne is another international airport, Rhein-Ruhr in Düsseldorf, and Rhein/Main in Frankfurt, the hub of international air traffic, can also be reached in less than an hour.