Terneuzen  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. First mentioned in 1325, Terneuzen was a strategically located port on the waterways to Ghent, in present-day Belgium. It received city rights in 1584. Tradition has it that Terneuzen was once the home of the legendary Flying Dutchman, Van der Decken, a captain who cursed God and was condemned to sail the seas forever, as described in the Frederick Marryat novel "The Phantom Ship" and the Richard Wagner opera "The Flying Dutchman". Before 1877, the city was often called Neuzen. The city of Terneuzen is located on the southern shore of the Western Scheldt estuary. The municipality of Terneuzen consists of the following population centres:  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. 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the Dow Chemical plant is served by a freight only line to Ghent in Belgium (Terneuzen's passenger rail service was withdrawn in 1951).