Archives



Feature, Freight News, Sea


Gdansk poised to become a European mega-hub

[ January 12, 2021   //   ]

The Port of Gdansk is planning to compete with the largest Europe maritime gateways as the largest investment programme in its history, about €1.3 billion-worth of new infrastructure, nears completion in 2021.
Port of Gdansk President Łukasz Greinke said it would allow the Polish gateway to compete with ports in Western Europe and increase capacity to more than 60 million tonnes within five years. He added that the port rebounded strongly from the Covid crisis, handling around 48.5million tonnes of cargo in 2020, despite the global slowdown and putting it in the top 20 biggest ports in Europe for the first time.
Gdansk reported in November it had handled 36.2million tonnes in the first three quarters of the year to September and was on course to handle the same amount of cargo it did in 2018 and just under 52.2million tonnes in 2019.
There was a dip in container volume in 2020 but Gdansk remains the only port on the Baltic capable of receiving direct calls from Asia, including from the biggest ships in the world.
Greinke said: “Our ultimate goal is to position Gdansk as a key logistics hub for countries across Central and Eastern Europe at the heart of global supply chains. The Port of Gdansk is now an important industrial centre and wholesale and distribution hub with comprehensive intermodal transport links. These investments will encourage more production companies interested in obtaining goods from the Port, such as raw materials or components for production, to invest here.”
An important component of the programme due to complete in mid-2021 is the €163million (736 million zloty) extension and modernization of the road and rail network at the Outer Port.
Greinke added: “This investment will streamline transport into and out of the port,” he said. “In total it will see 7.2km of roads, 10km of new rail tracks and seven engineering structures built or rebuilt. This will make it much more efficient for rail, car and truck traffic to reach the terminals with four prime tasks carried out: the expansion of the communication system, the expansion of access to Deepwater Container Terminal Gdansk, the largest container terminal on the Baltic Sea, the reconstruction of roads around the North Port and the construction of a parking lot for trucks.”
The Inner Port investment is valued at €125million (570 million zloty) and is focused on the modernization of the fairway as well as the expansion of quays and the improvement of navigation conditions.
Total length of modernized quays is almost 5 km, and the fairway is 7 km.
A transhipment area will be created at Dworzec Drzewny Quay, enabling the Innter Port to receive much larger ships bringing them right into the Inner Port.
There are also plans for a floating storage and regasification terminal in the Bay of Gdansk.

Tags: