A golden age for containers at the Gdansk port

20.03.2013

The Great Chamber of the Artus' Court used to serve as a reception venue for kings and royalties, heirs to the throne, chatelains and merchants. In the contemporary times, it has hosted heads of states and witnessed epoch-making events. On 19 March 2013, with the participation of many distinguished guests, the heads of PGA SA and DCT GDAŃSK SA have officially signed a document opening new perspectives for the Gdansk port and the city of Gdansk.

The seaport in Gdansk handles cargo worth about PLN 100 billion and provides work places to 40 thousand people. The previously completed investment projects provide Poland with sufficient supplies of energy sources and ensure that the Polish producers get a fair share of the profits. Additionally, the increasingly advanced port infrastructure also benefits the economies in Baltic and Central Eastern Europe. The Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT), with its astounding throughput growth attained already in the fifth year of its operation, has become the second biggest container terminal in the Baltic Sea. Ice free and accessible year round, this terminal offers top efficiency standards in cargo handling, which has been duly recognized by "Maersk Line" - the world's leading sea shipping company - which launched a container service from the Far East, operating regular weekly calls at DCT. As a result, the port of Gdansk has been recognized as a container shipping and distribution port facility in the Baltic. However, according to the DCT analysts, the annual throughput capacity of one million TEU is not sufficient enough for this hub to handle the increased trade exchange expected in the Baltic region.

Names such as Jerzy Melaniuk, who has single-handedly formed the PGA SA Management Board since December of the last year, Jerzy Lebiedz, Head of PGA SA Investment Projects Coordination Department and PGA SA Legal Representative, as well as Adam Zolnowski, "DCT GDANSK" SA Strategic and Financial Officer and Jedrzej Mierzewski, "DCT GDAŃSK" SA Operations Officer will undoubtedly go down in the history of the port and the city. The contract they signed regarding the lease of another 27 hectares of land owned by the port opens up new perspectives not only to the port, but also to the entire city that has developed in the port's hinterland for over one thousand years.

The agreement signed at the Artus' Court comes as a follow-up to the Contract made on 27 January 2004 regarding the lease of a real property, and the construction and operation of a container terminal, which nowadays is the largest and the most advanced container terminal in Poland. The common intention shared by the management boards of the both companies signing the Contract is to make the DCT terminal suited as soon as possible to handling world's biggest container carriers - including the ones that are now leaving the dockyards in the Far East as well as those being created on drawing boards. A new, over 600-metre long quay has been designed to ensure 16.5 metres draught while top standard services will be provided to ships by means of 7 Super-Post-Panamax cranes with an extension arm equaling 25 rows of containers. An overall annual target capacity of the newly-built infrastructure has been estimated at 4 million TEU. The Golden Age of Gdansk is now being revived in a new, container reality of the Gdansk-based port facility. "Bearing in mind that the expansion of port facilities has a significant impact on the economic growth - said the Minister of State Treasury, Mikolaj Budzanowski, concluding the event in his congratulatory letter - investments in these areas should be given top priority."

Janusz Kasprowicz
PGA SA PR Officer