DCT Gdansk becomes new hub for the whole Baltic Sea

From December 2009, Maersk will extend its AE10 Far East service with 8000TEU vessels calling DCT Gdansk on a weekly basis.
Introducing direct calls through DCT Gdansk will change the dynamics of serving the Baltic Sea region and opens a new era of container shipping in this part of the world.  As a result DCT Gdansk SA becomes Poland’s largest container terminal.
The first AE10 call will be made by the 8200TEU Maersk Taikung, which is due to depart from Shanghai on 1 December with an ETA in Gdansk on 5 January, 2010. The port rotation will be: Ningbo, Shanghai, Kaohsiung, Yantian, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas, Le Havre, Zeebrugge, Gdansk, Gothenburg, Aarhus, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kobe, Nagoya, Shimizu, Yokohama, Ningbo.
Securing this service is a double triumph for DCT Gdansk, explains its CEO, Boris Wenzel:
“This is a historic moment for the Polish port industry.  For almost 40 years, there have been direct container services linking Asia and Europe but most terminated in Germany and relied on transhipment to serve Scandinavia and the Baltic. While many analysts doubted the economics of sending post-Panamax ships into the Baltic Sea, we have always held the belief that large vessels would come directly to Gdansk as it develops into the gateway to central Europe and Russia.”
“The crisis has just functioned as a time-accelerator and made it happen earlier than we planned.  Now that the market is created, we are convinced that more lines will choose to add DCT to their mainline schedules and we are already planning options for increasing our handling capability to service this demand.”
Commenting on the short period since Maersk started to cooperate with DCT Gdansk, Boris Wenzel stated:
“We knew just how well we would have to perform to justify this new business. Our workers have performed brilliantly and Maersk’s ships have been handled with extreme efficiency. Indeed, Maersk’s own terminal scorecard ranks DCT Gdansk in first place among Northern European terminals.”
DCT Gdansk is convinced that other major carriers will follow Maersk’s lead by extending their service networks to include DCT Gdansk. Boris Wenzel adds:
“Poland is a country of nearly 40 million people and should not be reliant on feeder and overland links to ports like Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Rotterdam when, at the same time, DCT is able to accommodate the large vessels that call at these ports.”
DCT Gdansk offers ideal conditions to service all types and sizes of vessel, has the longest rail terminal in Poland offering excellent rail connections, and a 200ha logistics park adjacent to the terminal is being tendered out.  Both the terminal and rail facilities have significant expansion capabilities which will allow DCT to compete with German and Benelux ports.
In the medium term, DCT Gdansk should also develop as a gateway to the whole Central Europe as it believes it is better located than German ports to service these destinations.

DCT Gdansk becomes a direct call port

A quotation  from Maersk Line website:

We are very pleased to announce that we have extended our Asia – Europe AE10 service into the port of Gdansk, Poland, creating the first direct connection between China/Southeast Asia and Poland.
In line with our goal of delivering outstanding, innovative cargo services, this change is part of our off-peak capacity and slow steaming initiatives being implemented in our Asia - Europe network.
The change will enable AE10 to offer unique coverage between Asian ports and Poland and beyond, to the rest of Central and Eastern Europe – including improved feeder connections to the Baltic and Russia.
As part of the change, we will remove Dunkerque from the AE10 service, but the total capacity we offer in the Asia - Europe trade will remain unchanged.
The first sailing will be Maersk Taikung departing from Shanghai on 1 December 2009 with an estimated time of arrival (ETA) in Gdansk on 5 January 2010.
AE10 (East and South China, South East Asia to Northern Europe, Poland, and Scandinavia)
New rotation: Ningbo (China), Shanghai (China), Kaohsiung (Taiwan), Yantian (China), Hong Kong (Hong Kong), Tanjung Pelepas (Malaysia), Le Havre (France), Felixstowe (Great Britain), Zeebrugge (Belgium), Gdansk (Poland), Gothenburg (Sweden), Aarhus (Denmark), Bremerhaven (Germany), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Singapore (Singapore), Hong Kong (Hong Kong), Kobe (Japan), Nagoya (Japan), Shimizu (Japan), and Yokohama (Japan).
First westbound sailing: Maersk Taikung from Shanghai on 1 December 2009
First eastbound sailing: Maersk Taikung from Gdansk on 6 January 2010

New regular shipping connection with DCT Gdansk terminal

From October 2009 the Danish shipping company Unifeeder – one of the largest feeder operators in Europe - opened a new regular feeder service from DCT Gdansk terminal.
The new line operates between DCT Gdansk and Baltiysk (Russia) with two calls per week at DCT Gdansk (Tuesday and Thursday). Unifeeder’s vessels were already calling at DCT Gdansk terminal with containers of some global box operators in the past, but not within any regular service connection.
The new service is operated by mv “Gerda” (508 TEU capacity), but from the beginning of next year a bigger vessel is planned to replace her.
Newly scheduled service from Gdansk to Baltiysk is connected with the implementation of the automotive parts deliveries from Poland to Russia in cooperation with Rohlig Suus Logistics.

All the clients interested in container transport on the route Gdansk- Baltiysk are welcome to contact DCT Gdansk terminal, or Unifeeder directly.

DCT Gdansk terminal also supports regular connections of the following lines:
- Containerships:
Rotterdam – Helsinki – DCT Gdansk – Teesport – Rotterdam;
Teesport – Ghent – DCT Gdansk – St. Petersburg – Helsinki – Hamburg;
- Maersk Line:
Bremerhaven – DCT Gdansk – Bremerhaven;
- Team Lines:
DCT Gdansk – Hamburg / Bremerhaven
- IMCL / BCL:
Klaipeda – DCT Gdansk – Szczecin – Rotterdam;
DCT Gdansk – Hamburg / Bremerhaven;

Global container operators such as Hapag - Lloyd, NYK, Cosco, China Shipping, Hamburg Sud, ZIM, Hyundai, MOL, K-Line, UASC or Evergreen accept DCT Gdansk as a handling terminal for their containers, using the services of the above mentioned feeder lines.

Construction of DCT’s Veterinary facility building is coming to an end

Construction of the veterinary inspection offices adjacent to DCT Gdansk is coming to an end. Construction began in June, and presently an outline of the entire building is almost ready. Completion of the investment is planned for December 2009, and after a period of technical acceptance and EU certification (expected to begin in January 2010) it could be put into the operation shortly afterwards.

The second birthday of DCT Gdansk terminal

On October 1st, 2007 construction of Deepwater Container Terminal Gdansk was completed, and the terminal officially opened. DCT Gdansk is the newest and most modern container terminal in the Baltic region.
Within the two years of the operational activity, the terminal developed cooperation with many customers from a group of freight forwarders, shipping lines, rail operators and transportation companies. The terminal’s turnover is increasing. DCT Gdansk handled over 100 thousand TEU-s in the first operational year. This year this result was achieved already after six months of the current year, which was not easy during the acute crisis and, therefore, the competition between terminals. The trust and cooperation with many customers is a confirmation of the unique potential of DCT Gdansk terminal.
Currently the terminal is regularly handling the vessels of Containerships – the first container line, which shifted here all its operations in Poland from the very beginning of DCT Gdansk, the following feeder lines: Team Lines, IMCL / BCL and Unifeeder, as well as the largest container operator in the world Maersk Line.
Other global container operators such as Hapag - Lloyd, NYK, Cosco, China Shipping, ZIM, Hyundai, MOL, K-Line, UASC or Evergreen accept DCT Gdansk as a handling terminal for their containers, using the services of the above mentioned feeder lines.
Since the beginning DCT Gdansk terminal is making an effort to provide its services at the highest level to meet all customer requirements in terms of quality. Periodically published “Northern Europe Terminal Scorecard” is the proof of the above statement. For several last months DCT Gdansk terminal became a leader among all the North European terminals serving to Maersk Line vessels. Following parameters are taken into account in this evaluation (among others): container handling productivity, ship’s waiting time or container handling cost at the terminal.
Presently all Polish terminals are supported only by feeder lines via German and Dutch ports. Containers are transhipped there from ocean-going vessels to smaller feeder vessels which then shuttle them to the Baltic Sea region.
Thanks to its parameters DCT Gdansk is the first terminal in Poland, which enables to accommodate and handle very well the vessels of 7-8 or more thousand TEU-s capacity.
Terminal has a quay length of 650 meters and a depth of 16.5 meters. Its modern equipment provides a high productivity in containers handling. Thanks to all that and its localization it could be the best place to handle ocean-going vessels scheduled directly to the Baltic Sea.
Implementation of such solution will bring a lot of benefits and costs savings both to cargo shippers/receivers and shipping lines.