2019-06-27

The Port revolution

- We face a revolution in maritime economy. We can look forward to dynamic increases in the turn-over and quality of cargo operations in ports - said Marcin Osowski, the Deputy President for Infrastructure of the Managing Board of the Port of Gdansk Authority. He was one of the participants of a panel discussion entitled “Polish seaports”, which took place during the 11th European Economic Congress in Katowice.

One of the aspects of this revolution is going to be i.a. a further growth of container terminal capacity at the Gdansk Deepwater Container Terminal. In April of this year the terminalhas been bought by a consortium of the Singapore PSA International, IFM Global Infrastructure Fund and the Polish Development Fund. As Piotr Serafin, the director of the Departament for Infrastructure Projects PFR, stated, the first step for the new owners will be to enlarge the terminal by an addition of another T3 dockside, which is going to provide the DCT with a servicing capacity of 4mln TEU.  As soon as in 2023. Such a turn-over will be possible thanks to the assistance of PSA, which last year serviced 82 mln TEU in all its terminals. This is particularly important given that Gdańsk might soon have a potential competitor. A new deepwater container terminal is opening At Klaipeda, managed by one of the largest container shipping companies in the world the MSC, which may attract ocean-going vessels reaching the Baltic.

The other ports are also getting ready to expand their growth potential and accessibility: The Managing Board of the Port of Gdynia Authority is planning an outer port, and the Managing Board of Seaports of Szczecin and Świnoujście are designing a new terminal at Świnoujście.

According to Krzysztof Szymborski, a former President of the Gdynia Baltic Container Terminal, the container handling capacity of the Polish container terminals will suffice to meet the needs of clients until 2030-2032, which means that after that date they will have to be expanded, in order to meet the market demands. Of assistance in this matter may be the Act on expansion of outer ports, that is being currently prepared by the department of Maritime Economy.

- As a result we will reach a stage that whoever expands their container handling capacity first, is going to gain the most - he stated.

Last year the key Polish seaports serviced more than 101 mln t of cargo.  With a 15% increase it was the top result in history. Also the container turn-over beat the all-time record at more than 2.8 mln TEU. All of the above turns our ports into one of the key players in the Baltic region, going hand-in-hand with the solutions implemented in terms of the “Ports 24” package, which improved the efficiency of custom clearance of cargo. Thanks to that the revenue gained in 2018 by the national budget from port custom duties and taxes amounted to 40 billion PLN, which constituted 14% of its total incomings.

In order to continue to strenghten this position further investment is necessary in improvement and expansion of both container terminal  and terminal access infrastructure, which is to be implemented by all the ports, as well as further expansion of terminal access infrastructure, both road and rail. The problems related to the port rail service drew particular attention of the panellists, as the blockages and congestion prevents cargo transfer from the inland locations, such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as Belorussia and the Ukraine.

Article developed with Namiary na Morze i Handel magazine

photo: Visualization of the Central Port in Gdańsk. Press materials of the Port of Gdańsk Authority SA.