Offshore installation terminal moored at the Port of Gdańsk
On 8 March 2022, the Port of Gdańsk called for a bid to choose a tenant interested in the infilling of the sea area located within the Port’s administrative boundaries for the construction of an installation terminal for offshore wind farms, according to the port’s press release.
On 1 March this year, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland passed a resolution to change the location of the offshore wind farm installation terminal. The resolution specifies the Gdańsk Outer Port as the location which satisfies all criteria of industry investors. The timely completion of the project is essential to the development of Poland’s offshore wind power industry. The offshore installation terminal constructed in the Port of Gdańsk will secure the completion of the tender’s first stage by 1 June 2025.
The request for the relocation of the terminal was submitted by the Polish Minister of State Assets at the end of February 2022. In the motion’s rationale, the Minister provided the arrangements between the corporations tasked with more than 60 per cent of the offshore projects planned in Poland; the corporations include PGE and PKN Orlen, and a state-controlled business, Polski Fundusz Rozwoju (Polish Development Fund).
“We want to take on the challenge these expectations pose, and this can only be done by public procurement. That is why Port of Gdańsk Authority S.A. has adopted a resolution to call for a new tender to choose a tenant interested in the infilling of the sea area within the Port’s administrative boundaries. We have secured a positive review from the Board of Trustees and published the call to bid on 8 March 2022. We will foster the right conditions to facilitate the construction of the offshore installation terminal in the Port of Gdańsk,” says Łukasz Greinke, President of Port of Gdańsk Authority S.A.
The Polish government wishes to build sufficient seaport facilities for servicing offshore wind farms in the Polish economic zone of the Baltic Sea. This means improved national energy security of Poland and prompting the processes to grow the domestic economy. The growth of offshore wind power engineering on the Baltic Sea is critical to the success of the objectives of the 2040 Polish Energy Policy.
“Last year was the first time we called for a bid to choose a tenant interested in the infilling of the sea areas within the Port’s administrative boundaries. The winning tenant was DCT Gdańsk Sp. z o.o., a company that will infill a specific area and then build the new Baltic Hub 3 Terminal to increase the cargo handling capacity of DCT Gdańsk by 1.5 million TEU to a total of 4.5 million TEU a year. This will increase the land territory of Poland by 37 hectares,” adds President Łukasz Greinke.
The initial bids will be accepted until 8 June 2022. The binding bid closing date will be 3 months from the date of awarding the first stage of the tender.