Construction of the DCT container terminal in the Port of Gdansk gets off the grounds

26.04.2005

Following over two-year long preliminary arrangements, the construction of container terminal in the Port of Gdansk is now entering the crucial implementation phase. Yesterday, on April 25 this year, at the seat of the Port of Gdansk Authority SA, Vice-Presidents of the Port of Gdansk Authority SA Andrzej Bojanowski and Zbigniew Perlinski along with Members of the Board of DCT James Sutcliffe and Robert Sinclair signed the relevant documents, thus enabling the investor and contractor of work to take over the construction site of container terminal in the Northern Port. As informed by J. Sutcliffe - over the next few days, the land is to be cleared and, still in May, the construction work commenced.

Let us briefly recall the past events concerning the construction of DCT terminal.

The contract on the construction of terminal was initialed with the British consortium Deepwater Container Terminal in February 2003. As the approval was granted by the Ministry of State Treasury - in January 2004, Andrzej Kasprzak, President of the Port of Gdansk Authority SA and James Sutcliffe, President of DCT Gdansk SA signed a long-term contact (30 years with possible extension by another 30 years) of lease of port land. The contract stipulated that, on that land, the British investor was to construct the largest in Poland deepsea container terminal. By the end of December 2004, Pomeranian Governor signed the agreement pertaining to the construction of terminal.

The design and building documentation of DCT terminal was drawn up by the consortium composed of Projmors Marine Construction and Design Company in Gdansk and the companies Wuprohyd in Gdansk and North-Investments Gdansk.

Selected from the pool of five candidates, the German construction consortium Hochtief was named the main contractor for the project. Numbered among the major international construction firms in the world, it holds the portfolio of orders amounting to some EUR 13 billion and is ranked in ninth place among the biggest companies operating worldwide. A list of project developments undertaken by Hochtief in the field of maritime economy covers a container terminal in Bremerhaven, port quays in Hamburg, investment projects in the ports of Elizabeth and Ngqura, South Africa, the port of Seabird, India, naval ports of Oman and Kelang, Malasia. For nine years now, Hochtief has had its branch in Poland where it has implemented a large number of project developments ranging from housing, commercial malls and hotels through terminals and airports to railway stations and bridges. The German concern Hochtief has announced that Polish and Dutch subcontractors are likely to be hired, of which Dredging and Underwater Works Company in Gdansk.

DCT Terminal is to be founded on a 840-meter long and 640-meter wide man-made pier, covering an area of 32 ha. Sand to be used for building the pier will be obtained from dredging works. On the west side of the pier, a 40-metre wide handling quay will be provided with two berths for container ships. The first section of the quay will be 385 metres long and given a 16.5-metre draught, whilst another section of 265 metres is to be given a 13.5-metre draught. On the east and west sides, the pier will be protected from waves by a coastal mound breakwater built from reinforced concrete blocks. On top of the upper part of the pier, a reinforced concrete layer will be placed. Underneath the quay, the ground coat is to be reinforced with steel piles providing the foundation for rails of four 50-metre jib shore overhead traveling cranes suited to discharging containers from ships. The pier slab will accommodate a container open storage yard serviced by mobile yard wheeled overhead traveling cranes. Apart from two berths for container carriers, a berth will be constructed set perpendicular to the pier and equipped with an inclined plane and a ramp tailored to handling Ro/Ro vessels. Besides the pier, open storage yards will be provided for holding empty containers, as well as a four-track railway siding and an access road complete with a road junction and maneuvering ground for motor vehicles.

A targeted throughput capacity in phase I will shape at 500 thou. TEU (of 20-feet containers), thus making it the largest in Poland deepsea container terminal. The outlays on the construction - initially estimated at USD 175 million, have now been revised by the inventor and run at some EUR 150 million. A design throughput capacity will amount to 1 million TEU.

Phase I of the construction is due to completion after 20 months or so of the date of commencement of construction work.

In the area of the terminal's hinterland, the construction is projected of a state-of-the-art Logistics and Distribution Centre. In the early days of January 2005, signatories to the Letter of Intention - the British investor DCT, the City of Gdansk and the Port of Gdansk Authority SA expressed their will to provide a Logistics and Distribution Centre on an area of nearly 140 ha, that is expected to serve as an important link in the logistics chain connecting the European Union states with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Furthermore, this opens the opportunity for dozens of companies that will embark on the handling of containers and commodities shipped in containers, as well as on value-added business activities, processing, packing and transportation.