– We want to be one of the largest container hubs in Europe and this will happen within a few years. Given our excellent location and operational capabilities, we want to be a leading player in the region, both from land and sea - says Charles Baker, managing director of Baltic Hub (DCT Gdańsk) in an interview with GospodarkaMorska & Marine Poland.

Anna Konopka: At the end of October, DCT Gdańsk announced its rebranding, changing its name to Baltic Hub. What does this mean in practice?

Charles Baker: The introduction of a new name and brand is a kind of response to our dynamic development. Over the last 15 years, i.e. since our establishment, we have become the fastest growing container terminal in the Baltic Sea. We started our history as a Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT) to become the largest terminal complex in the Baltic.

And the terminal, although already the largest in the Baltic Sea, wants to be even stronger and develop new possibilities.

With the completion of the construction of our third deep-water quay by 2025, we will consolidate the position of the hub and become one of the largest complexes of container terminals in Europe. So we could still use the name DCT for a deep-water container terminal, but at the current stage of the company's development, the name Baltic Hub definitely reflects reality more.

Changing the name and brand is also a response to the development of our infrastructure on land and the connections we have created, becoming the main transport gateway to Central and Eastern Europe. Today we have excellent land connections with countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary and Germany. In conclusion, we decided to highlight our exceptional growth and what we have achieved in just 15 years. At the same time, we present current development plans by changing the name - from DCT to Baltic Hub.

What will the third deepwater terminal, the so-called T3?

As for the T3, we just started building it. It is a deep-water quay with a length of 717 m, a depth of 17.5 m and a yard with an operating area of 36.5 ha. The T3 project additionally includes the purchase of 7 wharf cranes, capable of handling the largest ships in the world, and 20 semi-automatic RMG cranes operating in the container yard. The new terminal will be built entirely on water, and its buildings will be adjacent to T1, which will be a continuation of our development at sea.

The enlargement of the terminal will translate into transshipment possibilities. How will the functioning of the Baltic Hub change after the construction of the third quay?

In 2024 and 2025, the transshipment capacity of the Baltic Hub will increase by 1.5 million to approximately 4.5 million TEU, and this is already the amount that the largest port complexes can boast of. Thanks to this investment, our container hub will become one of the largest in Europe, capable of handling the latest generation of container ships entering the Baltic Sea.

Currently, in Poland, only our T2 quay can handle 400-meter ships sailing on trade routes from Asia to Europe. At the moment, this wharf is already developed thanks to cooperation with the shipping alliances 2M and Ocean Alliance. If, for example, a third weekly service needs to be launched with these largest vessels, there is no longer room to accommodate them until T3 opens. In addition, many new ships are under construction, so an increase in large-scale cargo handling capacity is desperately needed.

The contract for the expansion of the terminal has already been signed, and the project is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2025. What will happen as part of the work in the coming months?

The construction of T3 will be divided into two stages. A consortium of Budimex and Dredging International (DEME) is now carrying out dredging and reclamation work to create the platform that will be the base of the future terminal. At the same time, piling will start, as a result of which a quay will be built with a length of 717 m and a depth of 17.5 m. Handling capacity will increase gradually as equipment is successively delivered from contractors. The delivery of the first quay cranes is planned for the first quarter of 2024. We hope that the first ship will be serviced at the new quay in mid-2024, and the works will be fully completed in mid-2025.

Ports play a special role during the ongoing war in Ukraine. How does this conflict affect the Baltic Hub?

The geopolitical situation will always affect trade and consumer confidence. The Baltic Hub acted as a hub for Russian imports and exports, which was connected with liner ships from the Far East. This cargo flow has been stopped due to the ongoing situation and will not resume until sanctions are eased. Nevertheless, the market is surprisingly resilient and lost volumes have been replaced by a combination of other Baltic destinations, imports and exports of Polish cargo, and even cargo going to Ukraine as Ukrainian ports remain closed. Of course, we hope for a peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict and a return to stability on world markets.

A month ago, 15 years passed since the official opening of the terminal. This time translated into over 15 million TEU transshipped since the beginning of the terminal's operation. 700 ships entered it annually, including 100 calls made by the largest container ships in the world. What are the biggest challenges for the Baltic Hub for the coming years?

Since the launch of the terminal 15 years ago, we have recorded impressive growth, starting with one deep-water berth and a handling capacity of up to 500,000 TEU, to become a real hub in the Baltic Sea in 2021 with two deep-water berths that handled over 2.09 million TEUs. At the moment, Baltic Hub has quays with a total length of 1,300 meters, 14 STS (ship-to-shore) cranes and an annual capacity of 2.9 million TEU. We have done a lot to make Baltic Hub the fastest growing container terminal in the Baltic Sea. This is the result of the excellent location of our hub, with good access to the sea and no tidal restrictions, excellent operational capabilities as well as support and investment in infrastructure from the Polish government.

It must be said that since the emergence of Covid-19 in 2020, global supply chains have been colliding with successive crises, with Russia's war with Ukraine having an impact on inflation, through higher energy prices and market uncertainty. When it comes to investments and increasing our capacity, with such reliable and experienced partners as Budimex and Dredging International NV in the construction of T3, we are sure that we will meet the timeframes set for the implementation of the investment. In our opinion, this is important for maintaining an open and free flow of the supply chain for Polish importers and exporters.

Another challenge we face is the situation on the labor market in the region - this market is tightening, especially in the case of some skilled technical professions, such as computer scientists and technicians.

What can we expect in this area in 2023?

Thanks to investments in T3, in 2023 Baltic Hub will introduce semi-automatic cranes that will ease the pressure on the labor market and change the nature of work. This means that we will be able to adjust shift start and end times for some employees.

Baltic Hub's biggest ambitions for the near future are…

As I mentioned earlier, we recently changed our name and brand to reinforce our ambition to be "The Baltic Hub". We want to be one of the largest container hubs in Europe and this will happen within a few years. Given our excellent location and operational capabilities, we want to be a leading player in the region, both by land and sea, able to compete on equal terms with major Western European ports such as Hamburg, Rotterdam and Antwerp.