The Port of Gdansk has delivered on its 2009 throughput projections!

23.11.2009

On the morning of 20 November, Gdansk stevedores surpassed the throughput volumes projected for 2009. Admittedly, the figures were cautiously adopted as they were based on forecasts made by shipping experts. Nonetheless, the projections still remained within the high range of average throughput volumes reported by the port over the recent years.

The Port of Gdansk - thanks to its infrastructure built in 1960s - was suited to servicing tankers and bulk ships carrying off coal from Poland. The years 2003-2005 marked the exceptionally rapid economic growth and brought about a significant increase in Russian oil transit - maintaining at the same time high coal sales. The subsequent year saw plummeting coal exports, which was followed in 2007 by reduced volumes of liquid fuels. It is necessary, however, to remember that even in the record-breaking 2005, the Gdansk port utilized no more than 30 percent of its total handling capacity for these two types of cargo.

A careful observer of structure fluctuations in the cargo shipped on the Baltic was able to note that at the same time the strategy, which built on taking advantage of port's favourable natural parameters - its safe, deep-water piers of the Northern Port and a superbly successful investment in the DCT container terminal - brought the expected results even at a time of crisis. "Even"? - or rather especially during the global economic slowdown.

The positive result was already ensured when the Gdansk port announced its throughput figures for the three quarters of this year. On the year-on-year basis, the volumes of grain and fodder more than doubled (57.2 percent) and the coal volumes tripled (from 670 thou. tonnes in the 9 months of 2008 to nearly 2.2 million tonnes in the corresponding period of this year). In a country where 98 percent of power is generated from coal burning, the outlook of rising throughputs of this cargo is obvious. Similarly - the role of the Gdansk port in terms of coal processing is bound to grow since the facility boasts a great potential for exporting coal. Consequently, the investment which is currently under way in the Northern Port as a result of the purchase of its shares by the Belgian company Sea Invest is of considerable importance as it is set to open up new perspectives for the Port of Gdansk in terms of coal throughput, including import.

At the same time, one of the two Gdansk-based container terminals, DCT, has already handled more cargo than in the whole last year (slightly more than 106 thou. TEU's in 2008 vs. nearly 118 thou. TEU's during the nine months of this year). In October this year, DCT acquired another regular feeder service provided by one of the major operators in Europe - the Danish shipping company Unifeeder. Providing services to regular lines operated by Containerships, Maersk Line, Team Lines and IMCL/BCL, the Deepwater Container Terminal Gdansk has already attained - despite its "young age" - all the attributes of a Baltic container "hub". As the world's leading container operators have appreciated the all-year ice-free port facility and the reliable handling of sea-going vessels, DCT has opened up to the Gdansk port the perspective of becoming a leader among state-of-the-art port facilities in the southern Baltic. The announcement by Maersk Line to launch from December this year a regular direct service from Shanghai to Gdansk represents a breakthrough in the Gdansk port operation and the overall cargo exchange in the Baltic Sea region.

A significant rise should be expected of Gdansk's share index in terms of Poland's marine cargo exchange, which currently amounts to 34 percent. The forecast of the Gdansk port reaching an annual throughput of 18-18.5 million tonnes by the end of this year - an improved year-on-year result - appears ever more realistic today. This comes as a direct result of the increased coal turnover (the import share accounted for the fifth of 2.5 million tonnes handled) and liquid fuels (a 50 percent share of transit in 8.5 million tonnes handled so far). The grain throughput, which is constantly growing in the Gdansk port, may reach 700 thou. tonnes. And last but not least - containers. Although the results of the Gdansk Container Terminal may fall slightly short of the expected 80 thou assumed in the forecast, the Deepwater Container Terminal DCT is set to reach a result close to 180,000 TEU's.

Consequently, Gdansk is not only becoming a port facility suited to handling all types of cargo, but also making its name as an ocean port that can accommodate all vessels passing through the Danish Straits.