Smooth sailing for DCT Gdańsk

DCT Gdańsk, the company behind the new deep-water container terminal for the Baltic Sea, which is currently under construction in Gdańsk, has taken delivery of the first of three post-Panamax ship-to-shore (STS) cranes and two of five rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes from Liebherr Cranes of Killarney in Ireland.

The STS crane, which was delivered on January 26, will be assembled on site, ready to handle the first vessel in June this year, when DCT Gdańsk Phase 1 begins commercial operations. Delivery of the remaining STS and RTG cranes, also ordered from Liebherr last year, will take place during the spring.

The Liebherr STS cranes have a lifting capacity of 60 tonnes. Thanks to a 52-meter reach, they will be able to handle ships with decks capable of carrying containers 19 across.

"The delivery of these cranes - well ahead of schedule - marks a key stage in the development of the terminal," said Fred Kamperman, general manager of DCT Gdańsk. "Once erected, they will give us the ability to handle vessels of 6,000 TEU [twenty-foot equivalent units] capacity and greater, making DCT Gdańsk a truly world-class, modern container facility," he added.

DCT Gdańsk will begin its operations on June 1, 2007 when the first facilities of Phase 1 of the project will become available. This phase will be completed by the end of September when 650 meters of dock, dredged to a depth of 16.5 meters, will allow ships of 500,000-TEU capacity to use the terminal. According to the company, the timing of the decision to commence construction of the next 500,000-TEU phase will be determined by market demand.