Zeeman suspends its rail services between the Netherlands and Spain due to unreliability
The retailer made the decision last year after verifying the unpredictability of transit times and the failure to meet delivery deadlines.
Rene Liñán Madrid - September 14, 2026
The Dutch low-cost fashion company Zeeman has discontinued its intermodal rail project to Spain , which was part of an initiative to reduce emissions. The project involved round trips with full containers transported to Spain and empty containers returned to the Netherlands. The decision to cancel the project was made at the end of last year, and this change in policy is reflected in its annual report for the past year, published this September. In response to questions from El Mercantil, the brand explained that the main reasons were "the unpredictability of rail transit times and the frequent failure to meet agreed delivery deadlines." These were two reasons the company had already cited in 2025 regarding the project, but which it nevertheless wanted to pursue in the interest of sustainability.
Zeeman has “unanimously” lowered his positive perception of rail connections
This move is not new for Zeeman. In fact, the retailer invested in rail transport to Spain in 2021 , shipping goods weekly from Antwerp (Belgium) to Granollers (Barcelona) using a service from the Belgian operator Lineas. According to its own annual reports, the initiative was canceled in 2022 due to delays, but was resumed in 2023, albeit with a new partner whose name was never made public. The company did not clarify to this publication whether this latest cancellation will be the final one, but they did explain that the rail service between its main logistics hub in Alphen aan den Rijn and Spain has been replaced by road transport for those containers that return empty to their point of origin after unloading goods in Spain. “Given that these vehicles would make the journey anyway, the associated CO2 emissions are practically unavoidable,” a company spokesperson stated.
And logically, although there was already some dissatisfaction with the results of rail operations in the past, Zeeman assures El Mercantil that the perception of the reliability of rail connections has changed, and for the worse. During this time, that perception “has unanimously declined,” the sources consulted affirm. “Delays were frequent, and the underlying causes were not always clearly explained.” This, coupled with the relatively high fares, tipped the scales in favor of road transport. Return shipments consist entirely of the company's own empty materials, such as reusable packaging and containers, without any collaboration with any other shipper or operator. Furthermore, the brand claims to have found “a transport partner,” whose name they do not disclose, that also offers short-sea shipping, an option the retailer is partially using as a complementary solution.
ZEEMAN OUTSOURCES ROAD TRANSPORT TO SPAIN.
Furthermore, transport volume has decreased, and the company has adjusted its fleet size in 2025 to adapt to the demand projected for the coming years. Thus, Zeeman “consciously” decided not to acquire trucks or trailers last year, given that major investments were brought forward to 2024 due to international regulations for diesel trucks in zero-emission zones until 2030. “In our long-term planning, we considered the purchase of new trucks and trailers in 2025 to maintain our pace of expansion,” the firm explains. However, “in line with the current reality, which demands a short-term approach,” the company has slowed its expansion: it continues to open stores, but at a slower pace, which has directly impacted the amount of transport contracted, as well as its volumes, although Zeeman does not quantify the proportion by which both factors have decreased. Instead, they affirm their continued commitment to developing their long-term environmental policy, which means “investing where it really matters.” However, sources at the retailer assure that they are keeping a close eye on developments in alternative fuels “for when the time is right” to opt for more sustainable transportation options.
Road transport to Spain, previously carried out by Zeeman drivers, has been outsourced.
Regarding road transport, and to optimize its operations, the company has outsourced trips to Spain to subcontracted carriers. These trips were previously handled by the company's own drivers—approximately five out of every 20 weekly trips. The remaining trips were already being handled by the same external providers. Zeeman explains that, since these carriers have less cargo space, they can transport high-turnover containers, which allow for moving more boxes than the low-turnover containers used in the company's double-decker trailers. This is the case, and only with Spain, due to the distance, the company clarifies: Spain is Zeeman's furthest market, and the external transport providers, the retailer asserts, have sufficient capacity to offer more efficient and cost-effective service, partly by leveraging their available return capacity. “Last-mile delivery in Spain is already outsourced. We send full truckloads to distribution centers operated by our partners, from where smaller vehicles make the deliveries to the stores,” Zeeman explains.
806 million euros
Zeeman reached €806 million in net sales and 264 million garments sold in 2025
The advantage, according to company sources, is twofold: the impact on emissions is limited, and empty miles traveled in the transport chain are reduced by providing return loads to Spanish carriers, who move thousands of trucks to Northern Europe every week. “Overall, outsourcing our transport to Spain results in significantly lower costs and more efficient use of our transport capacity,” Zeeman asserts. It is a similar model to that used in some areas of southern France and is necessary, the firm argues, because long-haul trucks from the Netherlands are too large to directly service most locations. As an independent carrier, Zeeman can only transport its own goods. “Empty containers occupy approximately one-third the volume of full ones, meaning our trucks would often return virtually empty from Spain.” Therefore, the manufacturer explains, using external transport reduces both empty mileage and CO2 emissions, as well as costs.
Zeeman was founded in 1967 in the same Dutch town where its headquarters are currently located, and it didn't arrive in Spain until 2015. Focused on the low-cost fashion segment, it began expanding in the 1970s, and in the 1980s it made its international leap by entering the German market. Currently, it has 1,393 of its own stores in a total of eight European countries. It also has nine online stores in the same markets, including Spain. Although it considered developing a distribution center outside the Netherlands in the past , for the time being it maintains its original hub as its sole distribution center. Products arrive there from factories in Asia and Turkey before being distributed to all its European markets. In 2025, the brand reached €806 million in net sales and 264 million garments sold.