In Western Europe, the hinterland is not only intense along the coastline but also in
the interior. This is notable along the Rhine river system and its tributary rivers
(Main and Neckar), Bavaria in the South of Germany, and the economic centers
around Milan in Northern Italy and Madrid in central Spain. That trend is reflected
from the major markets in Paris, the Liverpool-Manchester-Leeds belt in the UK
and the belt reaching from Austria to the growing production clusters in Hungary,
the Czech Republic and Southern Poland. Moreover, large parts of the European
economic centers are somewhat remote from the main shipping lanes, as is the case
for countries around the Baltic. European gateways are therefore relatively small
markets and act as intermediary locations to reach inland markets, even if many
gateways are important industrial centers (e.g. in the petrochemical industry).