Over 21 million tonnes at the Port of Gdansk

23.01.2004

Having collected and completed the data coming from all Port of Gdansk-based quays enabled us to estimate a volume of cargoes handled in 2003 at a rate of 21,293 thou. tonnes. This indicates a growth by 22.6% as compared with the year 2002.

A major increase in the cargo handling was recorded for the liquid fuels that accounted for 67.1% and reached nearly 10 million tonnes. In 2003, the Liquid Fuels Terminal in Gdansk had handled, among others, the world's largest cargo ships - the 300-thousand tankers of "Front Chief" and "Famenne". Each of the vessels had taken into their holds about 170 thou. tonnes of crude oil. As a result of growing crude oil handling volumes a need had arisen for simultaneous handling of more than one tanker at a time. Such operation had been exemplified while simultaneously embarking 100 thou. tonnes of crude oil onto each of the two vessels: "Prospect" and "Olympia" [ more ]. The Liquid Fuels Terminal is properly suited to handling as much as three tanker ships at one time.

Particularly satisfying to us is a substantial growth in the general cargo handling that accounted for 22.4%. This provides evidence to the legitimacy of the adopted strategy aimed at shaping up a universal character of the Port of Gdansk. The growth in general cargo handling was coupled by a 12% growth in container turnover. In 2003, a new regular container service had been launched at the Gdansk Container Terminal. A vessel owned by a Finnish shipowner of Containerships Oy calls at Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Aarhus [ more ].

Additionally, year 2003 saw the spectacular handling of heavy lifts such as 20-meter brewery tanks, a 120-tonne salmon farm [ more ], as well as parts of equipment for coal discharging of which one weighed 480 tonnes [ more ].

The previous year also distinguished itself owing to an increased number of handled passengers of ferry boats and cruise liners. In 2003, in Gdansk, over 100 thousand passengers more had been handled as compared with the year 2002. Polish Baltic Shipping put in operation a ferry of "Scandinavia" that had been purchased last year. The ferry operates on the route Gdansk - Nynäshamn [ more ]. The summer at the Port of Gdansk traditionally saw calls of large-sized cruise liners - with the largest vessel of "Prinsendam" that is 204 meters long and capable of hosting over 1,200 passengers on board [ more ].

Closing assessments of the cargo handling volumes for the last year undoubtedly prove that this had been a highly successful time to the Port of Gdansk. The results achieved appear of the highest rating in many years and allow for optimism in anticipation of results over the years to come.