Terneuzen is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands, in the province of Zeeland, in the middle of Zeelandic Flanders. With over 55,000 inhabitants, it is the most populous municipality of Zeeland.
Terneuzen , Axel , Sas van Gent , Zaamslag , Hoek , Koewacht , Sluiskil , Philippine , Westdorpe , Biervliet , Zuiddorpe , Zandstraat , Spui , Overslag .
Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Terneuzen, 2013.
The city of Terneuzen is located on the southern shore of the Western Scheldt estuary. It can be reached from the rest of the Netherlands via the Western Scheldt Tunnel, which opened in March 2003. Terneuzen is not linked to the rest of the Netherlands by rail - although the Dow Chemical plant is served by a freight only line to Gent/Ghent in Belgium (Terneuzen's passenger rail service was withdrawn in 1951).
First mentioned in 1325, Terneuzen was a strategically located port on the waterways to Ghent, in present-day Belgium. Nowadays the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal is still an important shipping route. The port of Terneuzen is the third largest in the Netherlands, after those of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The largest plant of Dow Chemical Company outside of the United States is located at Terneuzen, on the west side of the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal.