The Port of Gdansk has sailed into the high seas

22.08.2013

The date 21 August, 2013 will go down in the history of the Gdansk port in golden letters. Today's arrival of "Maersk McKinney Møller" is the crowning achievement in the efforts by a group of "people with a vision" of building and expanding a deepwater container terminal in the Gdansk port.

The decisions made at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries impact far into the future. They were inspired by the creative approach and understanding of the significance of the port industry for the national economy and paved way for the arrival at DCT of the first container ship already in 2007. The Götaland" - a feeder vessel (suited to inbound and outbound shipment of goods) owned by Team Lines - was at that time able to load... only 822 TEU (twenty-feet equivalent unit). Today, our "visitor" - currently making her maiden voyage - is the largest container ship operating in the world, with her carrying capacity exceeding 18,000 TEU. The giant vessel (400 metres long, 59 metres wide and 73 metres high) set out from Pusan in South Korea on 15 July. All along her itinerary, the ship visited 12 ports, of which the only ports on the "Old Continent" included Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Arhus and Goeteborg. Gdansk is the only port in the Baltic Sea to host the arrival of "Maersk McKinney Møller" following her passage through the Danish Straits. Consequently, it is a great satisfaction for Gdansk to rank among the elite group of the European port cities able to celebrate such a historic event.

A rapid growth of the DCT container terminal in the Gdansk port justifies the facility expansion plans which are currently under consideration. There is a great possibility that this year the Gdansk-based container hub (a port facility handling transoceanic shipment of goods) will handle more than one million TEU, which will enable the Port of Gdansk to enter the group of the hundred largest container ports in the world.

- The success of "DCT" has undoubtedly become a natural incentive - in addition to the port's geographic and hydrographic advantages - for other business partners to locate their investments here - emphasized Dorota Raben, President of the Board of PGA SA, as she welcomed the Maersk Line's giant ship today.

The Port of Gdansk has now sailed into the high seas... The early summer season saw the opening of the Gdansk Bulk Terminal - GBT. A new Dry Bulk Terminal suited to rapid loading and unloading operations will soon be launched by the "Northern Port" owned by the Belgian Group "Sea-Invest". The year 2013 at the Port of Gdansk will close with the completion of a fish deep-freeze and storage facility developed by the Northwest Atlantic Fishery Organisation. Before long, arrangements will be made regarding the construction of an oil terminal to be provided by the Dutch company "NOBA" BV. The construction of a Crude Oil Terminal, which will complement port's existing infrastructure suited to handling liquid fuels, will soon be commenced by PERN "Przyjazn" SA. Last but not least, negotiations will soon be concluded regarding an open-access deepwater terminal suited to handling plant products, which will be delivered by the Capital Group OT "Logistics".

The Port of Gdansk is already handling almost 30 million tons of goods annually at a value exceeding 140 billion zlotys. Analysts expect that these figures - especially in terms of container throughput - will multiply over the next few years. The rapidly growing throughputs present a new challenge to the Gdansk port management striving to reconcile expensive repair work on the existing infrastructure with launching of new facilities on time. Living up to the challenge will enable the Port of Gdansk to further boost its record-breaking throughputs thanks to improvements, such as new terminals accessible all year round to the largest ocean-going vessels. This represents a continued expansion of the global trade onto the regions that traditionally and for centuries have relied on services provided by the seaport in Gdansk.

Janusz Kasprowicz
PGA SA PR Officer