Representatives of the Belgian delegation at the Port of Gdansk

20.03.2015

Just one day after the ceremonial visit of the Minister-President of Flanders, the Port of Gdansk had the pleasure to host a 19-strong Belgian delegation from the region of Flanders, including representatives of the city and the port of Ghent as well as Belgian business leaders: Sea-Invest - one of the world's largest terminal operators in the field of dry bulk, liquid and fruit cargo, Peltracom - one of the largest producers in the Belgian horticultural sector, and Jan De Nul - a leading expert in the field of dredging services - as well as Flanders Investment & Trade, a government agency involved in the broader promotion of business development in both the Flemish region and beyond, supporting investment projects undertaken by Flemish companies.

The Belgian visitors' half-day visit provided an opportunity for a cruise around the Port of Gdansk during which representatives of the Port Authority - President Dorota Raben and Julian Skelnik who is the Director of International Relations and PR, along with representatives of the Northern Port and DCT Gdańsk - had the opportunity to show their guests some short multimedia presentations.

The cruise was also an opportunity to show the guests the port area from the water, the Port of Gdansk development areas as well as to describe the activities of particular transhipment terminals located in both the Outer and Inner port.

During the brief visit, the representatives of the port and the accompanying terminals also had the chance to enjoy an interesting lecture by Mr Daan Schalck - Director General of the Port of Ghent, who presented the current developments of the Flemish port, its main business areas, growth potential, as well as possible areas of Polish-Flemish cooperation in the future.

As Daan Schalcke pointed out, the Port of Ghent is a distribution centre for Northern and Central Europe, for whom Poland, including the Port of Gdansk is an important trading partner. During 2013 - 2014, Ghent was the largest dry bulk port in Belgium, to which, as he mentioned, Polish ports among others have made a significant contribution be sending significant volumes of bulk goods westwards, including products of plant origin, fertilisers, molasses and grain.

Thursday's meeting was also an opportunity to swap valuable experiences and discuss possible opportunities for further cooperation between the two port complexes and transshipment companies located there.