The announcement comes as the DCT Gdańsk company plans to build a new PLN 2 billion (EUR 440m, USD 500m) terminal, dubbed Baltic Hub 3, in the waters of the Bay of Gdańsk, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency has reported.
As the project was announced on Monday, Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said it was part of "a steady process of enlarging the transport and logistics hub in northern Poland.”
The project will “bring obvious benefits,” Morawiecki told reporters, as "goods shipped here are cleared through customs in Poland, and a part of the customs duty stays in the Polish budget."
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki speaks at a press conference in Gdańsk on Monday. Photo: PAP/Jan Dzban
Moreover, a portion of the company’s profits will remain in the country as well, Morawiecki told reporters, and so the development of the port of Gdańsk is “a huge opportunity for Poland” as the country extends its transport networks, he added.
Deputy Infrastructure Minister Marek Gróbarczyk said the new project was part of Poland's plans to increase the amount of goods handled by its ports from 100 million to 150 million tonnes per year.
This goal "is becoming realistic today," Gróbarczyk told reporters.
Paweł Borys, head of the Polish Development Fund (PFR), which has been financing the development of the Gdańsk harbour, said the new terminal would boost the port's trans-shipment capacity by a third, from just under 3 million to over 4.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
Crucially, Borys added, the harbour "will become fit to receive the biggest seafaring ships.”
This is in line with Gdańsk's stated ambition to be the key port in the Baltic Sea and a top-10 harbour in Europe, according to officials.
The port's enlargement also means Poland's territory is set to increase by 36 hectares, the IAR news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP