PORT OF GDANSK AWARDS 60-YEAR TERMINAL OPERATING CONCESSION

PORT OF GDANSK AWARDS 60-YEAR TERMINAL OPERATING CONCESSION    DCT Gdansk plc, a U.K.-based company managed by former executives of the port of Felixstowe, has been awarded by the port of Gdansk authority exclusive rights to build and operate a $200-million deep-sea container terminal at the Polish port.
   The contract gives DCT Gdansk a 60-year operating lease, with an option to extend the lease for another 30 years.
   The British company said that the new facility will be the largest deep-sea container terminal in Poland and will provide an important new transport route into the growth markets of Eastern Europe and the Baltic region.
   The terminal will be located on the north shore of the outer harbour area. Phase one of the project, due to be completed in 2004/2005, will entail building an initial container terminal with a maximum capacity of 500,000 TEUs a year and a roll-on/roll-off berth capacity of 160,000 TEUs.
   The British port licensee said that it expects container traffic to amount to 80,000 TEUs in the first year of operation, rising to 500,000 TEUs in years five to six. Phase two of the project will increase its capacity to one million containers a year.
   The management of DCT Gdansk includes Derek Peters, who developed the British ports of Felixstowe and Thamesport, Robin MacLeod, formerly operations director of Felixstowe and Thamesport, and James Sutcliffe, chairman of John Sutcliffe & Son and a former operator of the port of Grimsby.
   “Much of Poland’s import and export freight is currently transported by road and rail across Europe,” a spokesman for the company said. “Gdansk is the only port in Poland that will be capable of handling large container and feeder vessels – up to 6,000 TEUs.”
   The total investment required for phase one of the project is about $200 million.