"Transport Week 2013"
Professor Orlowski's cake

07.03.2013

The announcement that new worldwide shipping leaders will be introduced into the AE10 container service has had an invigorating effect on the participants of the "Transport Week 2013" conference. The first triple-A class container carrier built for "Maersk" has just left the dry dock of the Korean shipyard Daewoo S&ME Co. During her maiden voyage - most likely already in August 2013 - she will call at the Gdansk-based "DCT".

In addition to the symbolic for Gdansk news that the era of container carriers of 18,000 TEU capacity has now started - Karsten Kilgahl, "Maersk Line" North Europe Regional Manager, also referred in his conference keynote address to the very core of the contemporary shipping... The idea of building ships that meet the criteria of the "economic efficiency, low power consumption and environmental protection" is coinciding with the fundamental principles of the 21st century maritime transport.

Today, nobody among the shipping market analysts or players has any doubts about the ground-breaking role of the container industry. The next 10-15 years' forecasts for both the worldwide and Baltic goods exchange show a rise in shipping volumes by several times. The pace of this growth will be varied, of course. However, the market demand and saturation analyses show beyond any risk that only the most dynamic investors of today will be eligible to take a fair share of the "sea transport cake".

This "cake" was repeatedly brought to mind by Professor of Microeconomy Witold Orlowski. An access to the sea portends - in his opinion - for only half of the success. The "cherries on the cake" will be awarded solely to those who can in time provide a port facility with the efficient road connections since the real "battle for the client" will take place on land. The sea, indeed, generates great shares of GDP, however... the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The prosperous forecasts for maritime container terminals will hence require to be coupled by favourable investment decisions at the national level, as well as by the adjusted commercial and tax regulations.

This issue was referred to during the press conference by Walery Tankiewicz, Vice President of the Management Board of the Port of Gdynia Authority. The battle for the client and for a fair share in the profits coming from the Baltic goods exchange is fought by all of the Polish seaports. Gdynia too, despite its relatively young age, requires continuous modernisation of its quays, fairways and infrastructure. - A shortage of such efforts in the previous decades has resulted in the intensified investments required today.

Is it Poland's ambition to build "gateways to the world" or just "vents"? Are the Polish seaports capable of independently meeting the market challenges without any external assistance? The real problems were unveiled in the keynote address made by the DCT Gdansk management officials. The terminal, which has astounded everyone since the day it accommodated its first container carrier, is facing today a tremendous dilemma resulting from a reverse tax decision made by the local government: should they allocate funds from their budget to the purpose that had not been calculated before, or should they invest them into the expansion of the Gdansk terminal's throughput potential to provide services to containers shipped via Poland. - It is a rhetorical question in view of the fact that so far the DCT business activity has generated to the Polish State Treasury almost PLN 3.4 billion in taxes and duty. The Polish ports - claimed not without sarcasm Adam Zolnowski, DCT's Strategic Manager - have so far augured nothing but trouble for the Warsaw-based authorities due to their high maintenance costs and constant need for investment ... Somehow, it has been much harder to appreciate their significance for the entire economy...

A strong belief in finding a realistic compromise that will benefit both the Polish ports and the expansion of the container industry was voiced - during his welcome address to the participants of the third edition of the maritime sector conference in Gdansk - by Jerzy Melaniuk, Vice President of the Port of Gdansk Authority SA. This positive note was most welcome for the entire audience.
- A seaport is a complex organization, having a significant meaning to the entire national economy. This is best reflected in the more than PLN 100 billion worth of goods handled in Gdansk. This port, through the companies benefiting from its operations, is providing today more than 40 thousand jobs in the Pomeranian region. One of the best throughput results in its history (26.9 million tonnes), achieved despite the 2012 economic slowdown, attests to the wisdom known for a thousand years that investments into port facilities are well worthwhile. The astounding pace of the DCT development, launching of the Maersk AE 10 container service and building of a Baltic container hub in Gdansk provide the best examples of the port investments profitability. It comes as no surprise therefore to see the construction work getting underway on projects such as the PERN liquid fuels facility in Gdansk, the "Sea-Invest" Dry Bulk Terminal, the extensive area of "Goodman" storages, the expansion of the "Malteurop" handling and processing plant, the "PAOP" fish deep-freeze facility in the Port Free Zone and the "DCT" expansion plans. Our mission statement includes projects to be launched through legally permissible alliances and to be delivered with the assistance of the EU funds, including the Sucharskiego Route together with the Southern Ring Road and the A-1 Motorway, as well as the nearly 1.5 km long tunnel under the Dead Vistula river and the railway bridge providing rapid rail connections to the port's deepwater terminal facilities.
- DCT Gdansk is an excellent example of an alliance between imagination and the investing skills - explained his optimism Jerzy Melaniuk. We have met the deadline in closing the first stage of this investment project. I firmly believe that our partners' successive investment decisions and the port's continued expansion will confirm our mutual respect for each other and streamline the efficient cooperation that proves beneficial for Poland on all levels of the decision-making process.

This is my prerogative as a feature-writer to add that the aforementioned is required in order for the cherries on "Professor Orlowski's cake" to be consumed in Poland.

Janusz Kasprowicz
PGA SA PR Officer