The Maritime Institute in Gdansk (MIG) has published a report that examines the prospects of Gdansk b becoming a container for the Baltic region. The report also investigates if best practices at the ports of Gothenburg in Sweden and Hamburg in Germany can be successfully implemented in Gdansk.
Since 2007 container throughput at Gdansk has risen from below 100,000 TEU to 500,000 TEU in 2010, and up to 1.15 million TEU in 2013.
The growth in volumes is attributed to the opening of the deepwater Container Terminal Gdansk (DCT) in October 2007, reported Fort Lauderdale\'s Maritime Executive.
In 2010, DCT began receiving Maersk Line\'s Far East weekly services that were operated by 8,000 TEU ships, and by 2013 it was handling the Danish carrier\'s 18,000-TEU ships from the Triple-E series. DCT is now the biggest box terminal in the Baltic Sea region.
With the help of Maersk\'s Asia-Europe (AE 10) service, the Port of Gdansk has become one of the North Range ports that stretch from Le Havre to Hamburg, serving not only Poland, but also the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea region due to transshipment traffic.
Despite Gdansk\'s success, the MIG study tables shortcomings Gdansk must address.
First, the quality of hinterland connections, particularly rail, must be improved to make Gdansk a genuine multimodal port for overland central eastern European shipments.
Some best practices in this regards can be copied from Gothenburg\'s Railport Scandinavia shuttle system, and Hamburg\'s emphasis on highly efficient and on-time combined sea-rail long-haul transports.
Secondly, logistics services needs to be strengthened to make Gdansk a value-added port of choice. Thirdly, red tape has to be cut to an absolute minimum, to make it easier to attract new parties ready to invest in the development of Gdansk.
"Further development of Gdansk port requires proper actions to meet economic, social and environmental goals," said head of the Economics and Law Department at the Maritime Institute Gdansk, Urszula Kowalczyk.
"To make this come true, a long-term cooperation between local, national and regional authorities is needed," she said.
www.shippingazette.com