The Port of Gdansk during Transport Week

18.03.2015

Just like every year, nestling among the many important industry events in the Port of Gdansk's March diary was the International Conference of Transport Week held in Gdansk on 17-19 March.

As always, the Port of Gdansk made its presence felt there through active participation in the debates and panel discussions accompanying the event. During this year's Transport Week, the "Cooperation in port customer service" panel offered, among others, the opportunity to hear President Dorota Raben's talk entitled "We play in one goal - our common interest or a point of contention?". During the presentation, she revealed some recent investments already made in the Port of Gdansk and investment projects currently in the pipeline or at the design phase. Ms Raben paid particular attention to the importance of joint ventures not only between the port management and terminal operators, but also involving third parties, including PKP PLK, GDDKiA or GIK. In her speech, Ms Raben also stressed the vital importance of some legislative changes witnessed in recent times, which have decidedly increased the competitive potential of Polish ports. She noted, however, that only combined force of individual port companies, as well as other entities operating within Polish ports may lead to synergies that will offer real prospects for development and competitive advantage of Polish port complexes.

Her presentation ended with the maxim: 'Where you have to compete, there you can cooperate', a summary which brought the the 15-minute speech to a concise end.

On the same day, in the afternoon plenary session entitled "Changing dynamics of European transportation and trade", Julian Skelnik took part in a panel discussion devoted to the growth strategies of Polish ports. Mr. Skelnik -the Chairman of the Baltic Ports Organization (BPO) and Director of the International Relations department and PR at ZMPG-a SA - presented the strategy of the Port of Gdansk for the nearest future. He pointed out that it embraces the current changes observed in the immediate area of the port, as well as the dynamically changing environment of the European transport market which has faced particularly stiff challenges in recent times.

The three-day event ended with a conference session dedicated particularly to the latest hot topics, including innovations in the transport market and new challenges for seaports in the context of the sulphur directive introduced at the beginning of this year, including the issue of bunkering of LNG gas vessels.