Expansion of the largest container terminal of Poland, Gdańsk’s Northern Port, is about to kick off. If the project is implemented it will help to more double the port’s capacity, local media reported.
The project worth EUR 290 million was developed by Belgium based N.V. Besix (part of Besix Group). The company contracted to carry out the project said it start construction within six week on the site handed over to the company.
The port’s expansion Phase 1 will increase its capacity from 1.5 million TEUs to 3 million TEUs, with an expansion option for further capacity growth. The project expansion Phase 1 will be implemented within 19 months with the first ship call at the terminal's new berth by the end of 2016.
The project includes the construction of a second 650-m-long deepwater berth to accommodate 18,000teu boxships. The new berth will be equipped with twenty cranes.
In 2014 the Gdańsk port facility handled 1.2 million TEU, nearly its maximum projected capacity. Research by Ocean Shipping Consultants has shown that demand for container shipping to and from Poland will rise by 160% over the next decade. The port expansion is being carried out in conjunction with a EUR 95M valued overhaul project of the 16-km-long railway branch linking the dock with the rest of Poland’s railway network.