The new gateway to Poland

The Port of Gdańsk Authority SA spokesman Roman Kolicki is unequivocal about role that the Baltic resort will play in development of both European and the CEE region.

"This is going to be the largest deepwater container terminal in Poland," said Kolicki.

After the first phase of the project the terminal will have a throughput capacity of 500,000 containers, or twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) as they are referred to in the industry.

Shipping news

The terminal in Gdynia has the same capacity, but the new terminal will be able to serve much larger ships.

Poland is in great need of a marine terminal because at the moment the country is served by just two major ports. Apart from the one in Gdynia, it also has another one in Gdańsk but this has a much smaller capacity of just 60,000 TEUs. By contracts, the United Kingdom on the other hand, has 11 terminals with a total capacity of 7.5 million TEUs.

Double traffic

"The lack of a big terminal in Gdańsk is clearly felt. The field of container transport has been developing very rapidly in the last few years. The small terminal in Gdańsk handled double the amount of TEUs in 2004 than it died in 2003. And in the first half of this year it handled more than in the whole 2004," Kolicki said.

According to Kolicki, construction works on the new terminal should start "any minute." In January 2004 the Port of Gdańsk Authority SA and the president of the investor DCT (Deepwater Container) Gdańsk SA signed a long-term contract to lease port land for 30 years, with a possible extension by another 30 years. The contract stipulated that the British investor will construct a deep sea container terminal on the site and earlier this year German construction consortium Hochtief was named the main contractor for the project.

Port plans

DCT Terminal is to be founded on a 840 meter long and 640 meter wide pier, covering an area of 32 ha. The first section of the quay will be 385 meters long and given a 16.5 meter draught, while another section of 265 meters is to have a 13.5 meter draught. The pier slab will accommodate an open container-storage yard, serviced by mobile crane wheeled overhead.

Two berths for container carriers are planned, alongside a berth equipped with an inclined plane and a ramp to handle roll-on/roll-off vessels.

After the first phase the terminal will have an throughput capacity of 500,000 TEUs, but the design throughput capacity will amount to a staggering one million TEUs. According to investor sources, the first phase of the terminal will provide 370 permanent jobs, while a further 200 jobs will be available locally during the construction period. The cost of the investment is estimated at some EUR 150 (zł.588) million.

"The investor expects the first vessels to be served at the terminal next year. However, this doesn't mean that the terminal will be completely finished. A feasible period for the completion of phase one of the project is two years," Kolicki said.

Logistics location

He underlined that in the hinterland of the projected terminal a state-of-the-art logistics and distribution center is planned. In January of 2005 the investor DCT, the City of Gdańsk and the Port of Gdańsk Authority SA signed a letter of intention, in which they expressed their desire to construct the center on a 140 ha plot.

"The Logistics and Distribution Center will be closely cooperating with the deepwater terminal. However, it is too early to talk about when it will be built, the first phase of the terminal must be completed first," Kolicki explained.

CEE hub

Could these investments make Gdańsk a distribution center or a hub for companies operating in Poland and in the CEE region? Kolicki was cautious with his response. "We didn't have such a big deepwater terminal until now so it is hard to predict what will happen," he said.

Kolicki disclosed, however, that Port of Gdańsk Authority SA has signed an agreement with the Chinese port Ningbo - the eighth largest deepwater container harbor in the world. "If their interest in the Gdańsk port takes a concrete shape, that is if containers and ships follow, then Gdańsk has a chance of playing a regional role," he commented.

Kolicki stresses the fact that the European Commission has drawn up plans that envisage Gdańsk becoming an  important communication link of its planned Trans-European Transport Corridor No. 6, which will connect Southern Europe with Scandinavia.

"The building of the terminal, the planned logistics and distribution center and the modernization of the Inner Port for which the European Union has given EUR 31.5 [zł.123.5] million, all this will contribute to making Gdańsk an important part of corridor six," Kolicki said.

On track

The on-going construction of the A1 highway, which runs in the vicinity of the deepwater container terminal will also provide a fast connection with the outside world. "All the pieces of the jigsaw are falling into place," Kolicki summed up.