Works imminent on Gdańsk Port expansion
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
27.01.2015 08:57
Construction works have almost begun at Gdańsk’s Northern Port, already the largest container terminal in Poland, which will more than double the port’s capacity.
Gdansk container terminal. Photo courtesy: KacperKowalski.pl / www.portgdansk.pl
The site of construction has been handed over to N.V. Besix, a Belgian firm which has both planned the project and will now carry it out. It is expected to take six weeks until the site is ready for works to begin.
Under the PLN 1.2 billion (EUR 290 million) project the port’s capacity will increase from 1.5 million TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) to 3 million TEU after the first phase of investment, with the possibility of further increasing capacity if needed.
The expansion will see the construction of a second deepwater berth, 650 metres long, which will be able to accommodate ships with volumes of over 18,000 TEU. The new berth will have twenty cranes of varying sizes.
The project is expected to be finished within 19 months, allowing for the first ships to use the new berth by the end of 2016.
Maciek Kwiatkowski, President of DCT Gdansk, commented “Along with a second deepwater berth in DCT [Gdansk] which will be able to accommodate the largest container ships in the world, Poland will also gain a new level of excellence in servicing oceanic cargo links.”
The expansion is neccesary as in 2014 Gdańsk handled 1.2 million TEU, approaching its maximum capacity.
Research by Ocean Shipping Consultants has shown that demand for container shipping to and from Poland will rise by 160 percent over the next decade.
The port expansion is being carried out in conjunction to a PLN 400 million (EUR 95 million) modernisation of the 16-km railway line connecting the dock with the rest of Poland’s railway network. (sl/jb)
Source: Rzeczpospolita/Gazeta Wyborcza