Belgian Economic Mission

21.11.2011

On the initiative of a Belgian governmental department "Flanders Investment & Trade" and Gdansk Economic Development Agency "InvestGDA" Hotel "Gdansk" played host to over 30 construction industry companies from Belgium. For the period between 14th and 17th November, the economic mission to Gdansk brought entrepreneurs with cutting-edge production offers for construction industry, a ready investment sector in Poland at the moment, and those searching for opportunities to establish with companies from the Pomorskie Region.

Nothing serves the purpose of establishing profitable contacts better than bilateral meetings. Apart from those, however, the Belgian mission agenda also envisaged a seminar, during which businessmen of both states had an opportunity to learn about material and technology transfer possibilities. Gdansk and Gdynia sea ports also presented their shipping capacity. Vice-Chairman of the PGA SA Board Wojciech Lakomski presented a programme of extending economic co-operation between Belgium and Poland through the Gdansk Port. He reminded the guests about the advantages of the Port which create optimal conditions for cargo shipping.

Gdansk - the biggest and easternmost port of South Baltic, free of ice cover all over the year, is also a nod of the EU 6th road and rail Corridor from Vienna to Bratislava. With hundreds of hectares of storage space on yards and in warehouses, it still offers grounds envisaged for new economic purposes. Ships with a draught of up to 10.2 m can berth at the quays of the "inner port", and those in the "outer" deepwater part (up to 15 m) are ready for the biggest ships passing through the Danish Straits. A substantial area of Duty Free Zone is maintained for those interested in exchange of goods on a larger scale. The port reloads liquid fuels from ships of up to 300,000 DWT, with gas tankers up to 40,000 DWT among them (at the LPG terminal). 150,000 DWT ships can be loaded with cargo at the coal quays in Gdansk, and vessels half this capacity, whose draught does not exceed 10.2 m, can berth in the Gorniczy Basin for reloading. In two container terminals - DCT and GTK - Gdansk is currently handling container ships of up to 15,500 TEU and 1,500 TEU, respectively. There are reefer plugs in both these terminals. Other quays in the port, fitted out with Ro-Ro ramps, enable Gdansk to handle general cargo, aggregates and bulk materials as well as solid and liquid chemical substances. Also large-size cargoes are handled in the port - within the "project cargo" service.

The Belgian guests were interested to learn that it was Gdansk where the Sea-Invest Group, with its headquarters in Ghent, decided to realize its Central European prospects. Purchasing a majority shareholding of the Northern Port, the Belgian bulk cargo turnover tycoon decided to launch its European central office right in Gdansk. The extension of the Sea-Invest reload base in the Gdansk Port scheduled for the nearest months will certainly open up new vistas for the participants of the economic mission to Gdansk.

PGA SA PR Officer