Another major project to be launched in the Port of Gdansk

16.05.2013

On 5th May 2013, PGA SA endorsed the proposal of the commission appointed to adjudicate on tender procedure No.1/FU/2013 concerning the "Long-term tenancy of a developed land property, including a section of the Rudowy Pier, situated in the Inner Port in Gdansk, and designated for the construction and operation of a widely accessible deepwater terminal facility suited to handling products of plant origin, among other goods, excluding oil and petroleum products". In effect, the last section of the Gdansk port that has direct access to the deepwater Gulf of Gdansk and is capable to accommodate the largest vessels that can navigate the Danish Straits has acquired an operator.

As a result, further development of the port has become directly dependant on the pace of implementation work on the construction of the Central Port that will stretch along the eastern side of the Westerplatte Penninsula.

Once the decision has been endorsed by PGA SA Supervisory Board, detailed negotiation will get under way with OT Logistics Joint Stock Company - the winner of the tender procedure - having their registered place of business in Szczecin. OT Logistics has a long tradition dating back to 1946 when the company of Polish Shipping on the River Oder was established. In 1992, it was transformed (in line with the privatisation act) into a company wholly owned by the State Treasury, Odratrans SA, and since the last year it has operated under the name of OT Logistics. The Capital Group OT Logistics provides inland shipping, as well as sea and rail forwarding services, mainly in Poland and Germany. The company made a profit of almost half a billion zloties in the last year. While preparing for their debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, OT Logistics has also envisaged investments in the port industry. They currently own 95 percent of shares in Swinoujscie Seaport, with plans to launch a new container terminal there. Similarly, in Gdansk, with their construction of a bulk terminal facility, the company will boost the handling of coal, steel, fertilizers, agricultural products and biomass.

Additionally, OT Logistics has undertaken to provide land and hydraulic infrastructure worth 300 million zloties on a more attractive and economically viable 23.5 hectares of land situated in the Gdansk port and stretching between DCT Deepwater Container Terminal and Dry Bulk Terminal in the Northern Port (owned by the Sea-Invest Group). This investment project, coupled by the existing and upcoming road and rail network, will eventually consolidate Gdansk's leading position among the Baltic seaports. It may also be expected that the coming of an experienced inland shipping carrier to Gdansk will greatly boost the restoration of the pivotal role of the Vistula River - the queen of the Polish rivers - as a significant transportation route it used to serve in the past centuries for the Gdansk port.

It has been estimated that within the next 10-15 years - thanks to the projects currently under way - the throughput of the Gdansk port will have grown as much as threefold as compared to the present results.

Janusz Kasprowicz
PGA SA PR Officer