A New Deepsee Container Port in the Baltic

The DCT container terminal has been designed and built against the background of practical proven handling techniques, which are aimed at providing total satisfaction to our customers including speed of operations, good road and rail communications, reliability, safety, convenience of location and of course a competitive pricing structure.

In marketing terms we will be actively promoting the Baltic as a real opportunity to make a difference to the regional logistic chain. We aim at expanding the market for shipping in the Baltic and actively supporting EU short sea shipping initiatives as the way forward to promote "motorways" across the Baltic and into Europe and offering a hub facility that is ice free throughout the year.

Our mission statement is to make DCT Gdansk the most efficient deepsea container hub in the Baltic.

We make no excuses for making such a bold statement because we know, through market research and customer feedback that this is the role for the DCT Deepsea container terminal.

We are merely addressing the needs of the customers in the twenty first century. The feedback that we have received is that an additional deepsea port is required for Eastern Europe.

This huge market is the one that we intend to serve and provide the missing link in the logistic chain. Ten years ago this project would have been considered premature. Today there is so much pent up demand that it will not be long before we have to start planning for Phase II extension. We have designed the terminal to be "future proof" and be capable of servicing any vessel that can sail into the Baltic. We hope that the "deepsea" vessels will eventually include Gdansk inn their "schedule" as a way of servicing the demand for deepsea freight directly and as a way of avoiding congestion in some of the traditional European Ports. Logistic operators that service manufacturing companies have been forced to either use feeder services or go direct to a deepsea port outside Poland.

We are now planning to increase the critical mass of the new DCT facility by adding a logistic park "HUB@Gdansk". This development will cover 135 hectares and will provide the essential backup for a modern port facility. Internationally it is now recognised that to have a successful port a multi modal logistic park is essential. The "HUB@Gdansk" will have dedicated rail facilities and direct access to the A1 motorway and of course it is located next door to our modern container facility. Substantial warehousing and logistic enquiries have already been received.

I wish to assure our existing and future customers that the development timetable and delivery of the DCT terminal will be closely monitored. We will be open for business in the summer of 2006.