Gdansk takes Polish top spot

A large proportion of this was the DCT Gdansk terminal, which alone exceeded the Port of Gdynia’s total aggregated throughput by bringing in total of 47,153 teu.

The terminal already held the top spot in terms of Polish import/export volumes, despite only just having celebrated its third birthday. Further, DCT Gdansk expects to achieve its handling volume target of 450,000 teu in 2010, representing a 177% growth over its 2009 volume.

It’s believed that Gdansk made a very attractive deal with Maersk to get onto their run; the first direct call by 8,200 teu Maersk Taikung came in earlier this year and now the port is on three of Maersk’s regular routes.

It seems that the call “may have been partially a result of spare tonnage and a solution to the possible return of delays at former hubs”, said Steve Wray of OSC. However, he adds, deepwater like DCT’s is key to berthing larger vessels and this aspect looks like becoming increasingly important. The terminal offers year-round ice-free access with a 17.0m deep approach channel and 16.5m depth along the berth. This puts it in a very good position to act as a transhipment hub for St. Petersburg and the rest of the Baltic region.

It’s also possible that as volumes increase after the recovery, more lines will follow the same strategy: for example, MSC has already placed calls at Klaipedos Smelte.

Mr Wray adds, “The comparative transport costs make the DCT model attractive for a transhipment alternative to Rotterdam and Hamburg: in the long run, there is no reason why DCT can not challenge Hamburg’s regional supremacy.”