A weekend busy with ship calls

16.03.2011

The time is 00.57 at night from Saturday to Sunday, 13 March. Moored at the Port of Gdansk's anchorage, there are four tanker ships, among them the 243 metres long Liberian "Alexia", the one hundred metres shorter Swedish "Prospero" and the Italian "Granto". On the course of the approach fairway, awaiting a permission to enter the port and accompanied by two smaller vessels, there is the Panama car-carrier "City of St. Petersburg" with her hull streamlined like the Challenger spaceship. Her goal is to sail through the Port of Gdansk on her way to the Gdansk Repair Yard SA. The brand new vessel, just one year old, will undergo repairs of her propeller damaged by the ice in the Gulf of Finland. The oil tankers must wait for their turn since all four berths at the Naftoport fuel piers remain busy. Two British giants, "Vigdis Knutsen" and "British Robin" (either one over 250 metres long) and two 150 metres long ships, "Ternholm" (under the Danish flag) and "Fure Nord" (under the Faroe flag) are continuing the discharge of oil.

In the vicinity of the Northern Port, at the DCT Terminal, "Cornelia Maersk" is docked. This 347 metres long ocean-going container-carrier is one of the several dozen vessels operating the AE10 weekly direct service from the Far East.

On the western bank of the port canal, in the inner part of the Port of Gdansk, the unloading of further seven commercial ships is under way. In the Wladyslaw IV Basin of the Port Free Zone, the British car-carrier, "City of Sunderland", is docked (the following day, her place will be taken by the nearly 190 metres long "Pearl Ace" sailing under the Panama flag and carrying the load of over 3,800 vehicles, which could not enter the ice-bound port of Ust-Luga).

Moored at the Oliwskie Quay, there are the Liberian "Christina" and "Komet III" (under the flag of Antigua Barbuda) carrying the load of biomass. At the Siarkoport quay, heating oil is being loaded onto "Alice". The Wislane Quay has accommodated "Chris", registered in Egypt, which with the full holds has a draught of over 13 metres. She has brought to Gdansk almost 50 thou. tonnes of soya meal, some of which was discharged in... Gdynia. This is the evidence that the good forwarding and operational organisation may ensure a successful cooperation between the neighboring Pomeranian ports.

In the Gorniczy Basin, the Liberian "Yeoman Bank" is unloading aggregate, while the Maltese "Baltia" is taking coke.

It is a common joke among the marketing specialists at the Port of Gdansk Authority SA that traditionally, when the port receives prospective investors in the "gondola" on top of the Northern Port's Harbour Master's Office affording a panoramic view of the whole facility, the quays are deserted. And indeed, occasionally this happens to be true. However, the daily routine observed at the Port of Gdansk in the recent time gives no reason for such sarcasm. Gdansk's significant position as a transportation node has been evidenced by the last year's record high throughput. Another sign of the port's rapid growth is exemplified by this weekend at the port, busy and vibrant with cargo operations. "All hands on board" - as sailors call on each other gathering for hard work. Thanks to the concerted effort of the stevedoring teams of Port of Gdansk Cargo Logistics SA, Naftoport and Chemiki, the services on duty at the Harbour Master's Office and the Port's Dispatch Officer, as well as the crews of the tug and pilot boats, the Port of Gdansk handled more than 400 thousand tonnes of cargo over the weekend. During two and a half months of this year, the port processed as much as 6.3 million tonnes of cargo, including 3.6 million tonnes of liquid fuels and over 130 tonnes TEUs.

Janusz Kasprowicz
PGA SA PR Officer