The Chinese are steering for Gdansk...

02.08.2012

... announced the media as the first accounts have been published of the recent official visit paid by the Polish Minister of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy, Slawomir Nowak, in China. The delegation comprised of officials representing the Polish aviation and rail transport industry, as well as the Polish seaports, including the President of the Board of the Port of Gdansk Authority, Ryszard Strzyzewicz, and DCT Gdansk executives.

The visit's objective was to strengthen Poland's positive image as an attractive location for Chinese investments. The meetings held with the ministers of transport, commerce and rail of the People's Republic of China opened up new opportunities for concluding working agreements between the management officials of both parties involved, regarding specific joint projects. This was achieved thanks to e.g. negotiations with the management of Cosco Shipping Line & Cosco Freight Forwarding. Minister Slawomir Nowak expressed his hope that these projects would come to completion already within 2-3 years.

COSCO has 800 ocean-going container carriers at its disposal, providing an annual throughput capacity of 400 million tonnes of goods and calling at seaports in 160 countries. The Gdansk-based Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT) has already marked its importance with an increasingly growing trade exchange between China and Poland. The realisation that more than 60 percent of Poland's imported goods come from China - mainly by sea - confirms the positive economic perspective for companies dealing with this shipping direction. The key role of the Gdansk port was also acknowledged (on 25 June 2012) by the European Commission as the so-called EU-China Joint Understanding on Smart and Secure Trade Lines (SSTL) has been extended. The port in Gdansk - as the only seaport in Poland - together with Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chongquing and Tianjin, as well as Rotterdam, Felixtowe, Hamburg, Genoa and Antwerp - has joined the pilot EU program aimed at streamlining the border clearance of containers. Gdansk's accession to the project, which provides for the multilateral early exchange of information between customs services about shipped goods, will eliminate repeated clearance procedures at the port of destination, thus speeding up the handling of containers shipped from the Far East, and also raising the competitive edge of the Port of Gdansk and of the shipping lines registered in Gdansk.

DCT Gdansk currently provides ocean carrier companies with conditions that are unique on the Baltic, rendering it more attractive economically for the Central European countries and Russia as compared to the seaports in West Europe. Built at a cost of EUR 250 million, the terminal has affirmed - thanks to its rapidly growing turnovers - the sensibility of expanding its technical capacity for container throughput in Gdansk. It has established its rank of a container hub for the "Baltic Europe" mainly thanks to its cooperation with Maersk Line and it is now also gaining interest from other world renown ocean lines. It is possible that COSCO will prove themselves to become an excellent business partner in expanding the potential for container handling in the Gdansk port.

Minister Salwomir Nowak's visit therefore may result in the Port of Gdansk drawing substantial benefits from the USD 10 billion worth credit line declared by the government of the People's Republic of China to Chinese companies willing to make investments in Central Europe. COSCO executives have already visited Gdansk before and the follow-up discussions are scheduled for autumn 2012. The Gdansk port is keen to welcome a new partner that will not only get involved in expanding the potential for container handling, but will also recognize - as was the case with Maersk - the sensibility of investing in land access infrastructure and in creating inter modal transportation chains, which are strongly supported by the EU funds.

Janusz Kasprowicz, PGA SA PR Officer