Posted on July 26, 2016
By Dag Pike, MJ
The EU Transport Coordinating Committee has approved funding for transport projects submitted by the Port of Gdansk, Poland’s leading port. According to the European Commission 16 Polish undertakings qualified as recommended projects to a total amount of nearly EUR 1.9 billion with three of these relating to the port.
Two infrastructure projects from the approved list involve the modernisation of the fairway along with the expansion of the quays and improvement of navigation conditions in the Inner Port and the modernisation of the road and railway network in the Outer Port. The third of the approved projects is a study involving the preparation of project and environmental documentation for road and railway projects that will be carried out in cooperation with the Gdansk Municipality. A total of nearly EUR 119 million will flow into the Port of Gdansk which will be the highest EU subsidy in the port’s history to date.
The projects totalling more than €110.2 million (with a subsidy of € 93.7 million) involve the dredging of the fairway and the modernisation of a series of quays along the Inner Harbour. Building permit applications have already submitted for all the tasks, the last ones are to be issued in September 2016. The channel currently has a draft of 10.2 metres and proposed dredging will see this deepened by half a metre.
Gdansk has seen major expansion in recent years with the construction of the new outer port that can now handle the largest container ships as well as LNG and bulk carriers. In this area of the port the second deep water container terminal for DCT is nearing completion with the arrival of the container cranes and it is anticipated that the throughput for containers will reach 3 million TEU.
A spokesperson for the port said, “Projects with EU-recommended status are key infrastructure undertakings, making it possible to modernise the infrastructure, improving access to the port both from land and water. Their significance cannot be overestimated, as they will influence the improvement of safety of navigation at the Port of Gdansk and improve land traffic. The latter has been particularly heavy recently due to increased trans-shipments recorded at the quays of the port which came to nearly 36 million tonnes in 2015. It is anticipated that this will increase to close to 40 million tonnes this year.
All the recommended projects are very extensive, multidisciplinary undertakings that will be carried out until 2020. The project involving the expansion and modernisation of the road and railway network in the Outer Port, is estimated to cost more than €28.7 million and will include the construction and redevelopment of 7.2 kms of road and 10 kms of railway.
MJ recently heard that T2 investment has already reached a decisive vertical dimension. Three STS cranes, which in May had arrived dismantled by sea for the second berth of DCT Gdansk terminal, were erected and the process of transporting them to the crane rails began a few days ago. Now, all three of them are positioned on the crane rails.
The second berth of deepwater container terminal will be equipped with five largest and most modern STS cranes in Europe. The components of the remaining two cranes will be delivered next month.
Source: MJ
