Gdynia-Gdansk (Poland)

Gdynia and Gdansk are Baltic Sea ports in Poland. Gdynia is the principal cruise port of Gdansk City and also the Polish Navy's homeport. The town has a naval museum and several maritime schools. Gdansk is Poland's largest cargo port (currently ranked the Baltics' 4th-largest), with capacity to handle the world's largest ships.

From Port Gdynia (locode PLGDY), cruise passengers can visit Poland's oldest city - Gdansk (fka Danzig) and also Malbork Castle. Between the 13th-15th centuries, the fortress was one of Europe's largest and most powerful. Among the other best-known tourist destinations is Sopot - one of Poland's biggest and most popular seaside resorts.

During season 2017, Port Gdansk had scheduled a total of 67 ship calls (over 200% increase over 2016) and handled over 30,000 passengers. Of all ship calls, 40 were cruise vessels and their passengers (~17,000). Vessels' sizes were also record-breaking - with average gross tonnage over 24,800 GT-tons and average LOA length 170 m (558 ft). Among the visiting liners in 2017 were AIDAcara (June 16 and 30), Thomson Celebration (July 19) and National Geographic Orion (April 12, May 13).

The post-COVID 2022 season (April 20th thru December 17th) was Gdansk cruise port's record year with handled a total of 79 vessels and 29251 passengers. In 2023, the number of booked berthings was 45.

Port Gdansk

Port Gdansk (locode PLGDN) is Baltic Sea's 4th-largest by annual capacity cargo port. It is located on Gdańsk Bay's southern coast and extends along Vistula River's estuary Martwa Wisła. The Port covers ~1400 hectares/3460 acres of water and ~410 hectares/1013 acres of land.

The seaport is divided into Inner Port and Exterior (Northern) Port.

Inner Port houses the port operator company "Port of Gdansk Cargo Logistics (bulk and general cargo handling and storage), DCT Gdansk Container Terminal, ferry terminals, Poland's largest ferry company Polferries, phosphates (bulk cargo) terminal, liquid and bulk sulfur (cargo) terminal, fruit terminal, Port Free Zone. At Inner Port are handled mainly grain, fertilizers, lumber, ore, steel, boxships, Ro-Ro vessels and Ro-Pax vessels (car and passenger ferries).

Exterior Port is in Gdansk Bay. Here are handled the largest vessels (up to DWT 300,000 tons and max draft 15 m / 50 ft). Exterior Port houses coal terminal, Naftoport terminal (crude oil, fuels), LPG terminal (liquefied petroleum gas) and DCT-Deepwater Container Terminal. DCT is Poland's largest and Baltic Sea's only terminal with capacity to handle ULCVs (ultra-large container vessels) with max capacity 23000-TEUs. In 2018, DCT Gdańsk handled 1,9 million TEUs. The terminal has quay length 1306 m (4285 ft) and max water depth 17 m (56 ft).

In 2016, Port Gdansk reported a record year with handled over 37,3 million tons of cargo. For 2017-H1 (first half), the port handled total 18,5 million cargo tons. For 2018-H1, transshipment volumes were over 25 million tons. Increases in transshipments were reported for general cargo (37%), TEU-containers (44%), commercial vehicles (24%), bulk cargo (21,2%). Traffic with other Baltic Sea ports increased by 35%, including with St Petersburg Russia (14%), Klaipeda Lithuania (7,5%) and Riga Latvia (0,7%).

In November 2017, Port Gdansk Authority leased a port property to Krajowa Spolka Cukrowa for building a new sugar cargo terminal (silo capacity 50,000 tons) plus facility access infrastructure. The new terminal is adjacent to Nabrzeze Wislane Quay, which allows entry of large-capacity bulk cargo vessels. The new facility includes a large silo, sugar packing facility, logistics warehouse (capacity 10,000 tons), parking (capacity 37 trucks) and container depot (capacity 130 TEUs). The terminal's annual capacity is around 300,000 tons of sugar. The sugar is delivered in rail containers and also via silo trucks.

On November 21, 2017, arrived the first KIA cars as the Polish company Adampol SA started commercial vehicle transshipments at Port Gdansk. New cars transshipments by Adampol are via cooperation with the Slovakian factory that assembles 5- and 3-door versions of "KIA Cee'd", as well as "KIA Sportage" and "KIA Venga". The new cars are transported from Zilina (Slovakia) to Port Gdansk, where they are stored and loaded onto a car carrier (RoRo ship) taking them to the UK. This deal made the Port an important logistics hub for new automobiles.

• Statistics for 2017 showed over 60,000 commercial vehicles transshipped from Gdansk (over 400% increase over 2016). Before November 2017, KIA cars were transported via Cuxhaven Germany. The new logistics route avoids congestion on the German motorways, as well as at other ports. As of 2017, Adampol's KIA cars total annual transshipment volume for the UK market was about 50,000 vehicles. Adampol also has contracts for Hyundai and Nissan vehicle transshipments.
• In 2017, Nissan changed its logistics route for East-Central Europe. Now all manufactured in Japan, Spain and UK Nissan cars are distributed via Port Gdansk across Poland, as well as to Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine. The assembled in Czech Republic Hyundai vehicles are transported via roads and railways to Port Gdansk, from where are shipped to the UK.

In 2018, Port Gdansk transhipped nearly half of all goods through all cargo ports in Poland. Thanks to this it is getting closer and closer to the podium of the largest Baltic ports. FY2017 ended with transhipped 40,6 million tons of goods (Poland's all-time record). In 2018, the port broke this record with 49+ million tons (20,7% increase) Highest growths were in coal (7,2 million tons, +41%), TEU-containers (20 million tons, +21%), general cargo (21,5 million tons, +18%), fuels (15,5 million tons, +18%), bulk cargo (3,9 million tons, +14%).

As of 2019, Port Gdansk is ranked the Baltic's 3rd-largest, while Port Gdynia is ranked the 4th-largest. The largest Baltic Sea ports (from 200+ cargo ports) are Aarhus and Malmo-Copenhagen.

In 2020, Port Gdansk will inaugurate the expanded Oliwskie Quay. The project is part of the EU co-financed port development program, which also includes expansion projects for Zakretu Pieciu Gwizdkow Quay, Ziolkowskiego Quay and Polferries Quay (former ferry terminal).

• Quays' total length is approx 1,2 km (0,75 mi). For the project, all 7 potential contractors submitted bids / tendered.
• Works will be carried out in phases to allow the quays to remain operational.
• Construction works include demolition works, quay sites, waterworks and sewage pipelines. Of all funds, 85% are from CEF (Connecting Europe Facility / EU funding instrument).
• Port extension project cost PLN 1 billion (USD 290 million / EUR 237 million).

In July 2022, DCT Gdansk (Deepwater Container Terminal's operator - Baltic Sea's largest) signed a contract to construct the T3 (Port's 3rd deepwater terminal). For T3 was contracted a consortium of Budimex SA (Poland-based construction company part of Ferrovial SA/Spain) and Dredging International NV (part of DEME Group/Belgium). The works started in September 2022, with scheduled full completion in 2024-Q2. Gdansk T3 has a 717 m (2352) long quay (draft 17,5 m / 57 ft) and land area 36,5 hectares (90,2 acres). The new terminal is fitted with 7x new STS (ship-to-shore cranes with capacity to handle the world’s largest containerships) plus 20x semi-automated RMGs (Rail Mounted Gantry cranes). T3 increased DCT Gdansk’s annual TEU capacity by 1,7 million (to a total of 4,5M TEUs).

Gdansk Shipyard

Gdansk Shipyard (Stocznia Gdanska) was established in 1946 (after WW2) by the Soviet Union and originally named "Lenin Shipyard". The large facility occupies the entire Ostrow Island in Martwa Wisła River (one of Vistula's branches) that flows through downtown.

The yard was constructed on Ostrow's sites previously occupied by two German shipyards (Schichau-Werft and Danziger Werft) which were severely damaged in the war. In 1952 was established the state-owned Baza Remontowa (repair base) was soon renamed Stocznia Remontowa (shipyard repairs). In the period 1967-89, the facility was named Vladimir Lenin Shipyard.

In 1990 (the fall of the USSR/Soviet Union) was established Stocznia Gdanska SA - a stock-listed company with 61% state ownership (National Treasury shares) and 31% employees-owned shares. Since 2018, the shipyard's main shareholder is Gdansk Shipyard Group (75%). The company employs ~2200 workers.

Part of Gdansk Shipyard Group (subsidiaries) all based on the Ostrow are also the companies Grupa Przemysłowa Baltic (Baltic Operator/manages Stocznia Remontowa's activities in shipbuilding, wind energy, offshore and transhipment sectors) and GSG Towers (2017-founded, manufacturer of wind turbine towers and steel structures for the offshore industry).

In July 2018, Agencja Rozwoju Przemysłu SA (Poland's Industrial Development Agency/1991-established joint stock company of the State Treasury/supports the Polish enterprises' restructuring) became the full owner by acquiring from Gdansk Shipyard Group the remaining 81,05% of Stocznia Gdansk SA's shares and from Serhiy Taruta (Ukraina) the other 50% of GSG Towers' shares. As a result, the state-owned company now has full control (100%) over the shipyard - and Poland's shipbuilding industry.

Currently, at the shipyard are constructed RoPax vessels (car and passenger ferries), commercial fishing ships, tugboats, scientific research and offshore support vessels (oil and gas platforms), cargo ships (bulk and container carriers), as well as assembled sections (hull+superstructure) for large cruise liners finished in Finland (Turku). Gdansk Shipyard is also often used for repair services.

On December 19, 2022, ICTSI-International Container Terminal Services Inc (Manila Philippines-based global port management company) and Port of Gdynia Authority SA signed a 30-year lease contract (through 2053) for BCT-Baltic Container Terminal. The new lease effectively extended BCT's tenure under ICTSI's management. Between 2003-2023, ICTSI made USD 100+ million in investments in BCT. ICTSI also planned future infrastructure upgrades and expansions to allow handling large boxships (with max LOA length 366 m/1200 ft (phase 1) and eventually 400 m/1312 ft (phase 2). Currently, BCT processes monthly ~250 intermodal trains (carrying TEUs) by 13 different operators. The intermodal train-transported TEUs account for ~1/3rd of the Port's annual throughput.

Gdynia-Gdansk cruise terminal