European Commission supports the DCT development at the Port of Gdansk

08.08.2002

July 31, 2002, Gdansk - Marian Switek, President of the Board of the Port of Gdansk Authority SA, is pleased to announce that the European Commission has expressed a highly favourable opinion with regard to the planned development of the Deepsea Container Terminal (DCT) in the deepwater Northern Port of Gdansk.

According to Fotis Karamitsos, Director of the European Commission's Directorate for Maritime Transport "this development is essential for the future transport market in an enlarged Community. The planned completion of phase I in 2004-2005 will certainly not come too early to satisfy expected demand in container handling facilities." Director Karamitsos is also convinced that "the development of the Gdansk DCT will contribute significantly to Poland's economic developments and to addressing existing and future transport problems" and hopes that "port authorities in Poland will have similar success in attracting such projects."

In addition, the European Commission emphasized the significance of the development of transportation links within Trans-European Transport Corridor VI and, in particular, the A1 highway. This relates to addressing the problems of bottlenecks, one of which is to be found on the Polish-German border. Director Karamitsos feels that such problems can be best addressed through "bigger reliance on maritime transport which should lead to the creation of 'motorways of the sea'. These may be included into the concept of Trans-European Networks (TEN-T) for which adequate port facilities and hinterland links like the A1 road would be prerequisites."

Furthermore, the European Commission recognized a strategic role and importance of Polish port authorities in performing their management function at seaports. Referring to the legislative process on a community Directive on market access to port services, Director Karamitsos said that "the Directive would put specific obligations on all ports which can best be fulfilled with new developments like the Gdansk Container terminal under the strategic guidance of a port management body like the Port of Gdansk Authority and similar Polish port authorities."

It is worth recalling that on May 13, 2002 the Port of Gdansk Authority SA completed negotiations with DCT Gdansk SA, a company formed by leading port and container management consortium in the UK with worldwide experience in container terminal operations and design (i.a. Felixstowe, Thamesport, Malta, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai), to construct and operate a deep sea container terminal. The consortium is headed by James Sutcliffe, Chairman of one of the oldest shipping and stevedoring groups based in the UK (est. 1862).

Phase I of a $170m worth deep sea container terminal will provide two berths capable of handling Panamax size vessels, and one berth also providing a ro/ro facility. The terminal has an initial capacity to handle 500,000 TEU (Phase I), with a maximum capacity of 1m TEU once the third berth (Phase II) comes on stream. The construction of the terminal will be entirely financed from private sources.

The new terminal will generate a substantial number of new jobs in the area. Over 370 people will be required for servicing the facility alone. The proposed logistics park, as well as ferry operations and cruise terminal will significantly add to this figure. Conservative estimates show from previous experience that for every one job created on the terminal between 5 and 7 will be created in support services. Further, based on existing deepsea container ports, infrastructure development could provide up to 2000 new job opportunities in Gdansk.

Concluded President Marian Switek: "Apart from these obvious benefits for the regional and national economy, the DCT Gdansk project may also be viewed as a direct response to the European Commission's call for breaking existing monopolies in the port services sector, as advocated in its 'Ports Package' and Port Services Directive. I hope that the Gdansk Deepsea Container Terminal project will bring us closer to EU standards and enable Poland to play its rightful role in the Trans-European Transport Network."