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 famous companies have chosen Cologne as a base for their activities in Germany or even the whole of Europe. The central location and the good traffic connections, the outstanding economic power, its leading role as a media and communication center as well as the remarkable quality of life, make the location of Cologne the first choice for industrial companies as well as for trading activities and the expanding market of communications.
As evidence of the high locational quality of the region, foreign companies of world ranking have chosen to settle down in Cologne and have never regretted their decision. Over a thousand companies with foreign origins are located 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 already appreciated 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, because as a result of Cologne's role as a place of transshipment for the flows of goods from the Netherlands, the city acquired the prosperity which was used for building numerous sacred monuments - climaxing in the world-famous Cologne Cathedral.
The optimal traffic connections at the heart of Europe are still the most powerful arguments for the city as a commercial location. Whether by land, by water, or by air: Cologne lies at the center, all roads lead to Cologne. In recent times, it has also played its role as an upcoming media and communication 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 surrounding area, the incomparable quality of life which casts its spell over everyone who has enjoyed it.
At the heart of Europe
For more than 2.000 years, the Rhine has been the No. 1 waterway in Western Europe. Cologne has played a leading role here right from the start for the transshipment 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 developed their network all over Europe, one of the continent's largest stations was built: over one thousand passenger trains today cross the Hohenzollern Bridge to stop in the central station in the shadow of the Cathedral. Cologne is also equipped for the future: today ICE connections already exist with all major German cities. As a hub of the European highspeed network, Cologne links Paris and Brussels with Frankfurt/Main. Cologne's Südbrücke (South Bridge) is Germany's frequently used freight train route, and the Eifeltor container and transshipment terminal is the largest in the country.
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 been registering increasing volumes of passengers year after year and is Germany's second-largest freight 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 one hour.