Baltic ports compete for European markets

Under the auspices of the Ministry of Infrastructure, port authorities are joining forces to prepare a joint transhipment offer for, among others, Poland’s southern neighbours. The development plans involve investments in container terminals, intermodal terminals, cold stores and fuel hubs, according to Monday’s edition of Puls Biznesu.

We want to create a joint offer for Polish ports so that they can attract customers together. This is an ambitious plan, which aims to strengthen our position in the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian markets, for example. We will definitely have representatives in these countries who will look for new customers and goods for transhipment. Thanks to the joint offer, Polish ports can become the main logistics hub serving Central and Eastern Europe, said Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Arkadiusz Marchewka, quoted by PB.

Investments, including in container transhipment, are to help with regional expansion. Marchewka recalled that Baltic Hub, a Gdańsk-based container operator, has already opened its third transhipment terminal. Preparations are also nearing completion for the signing of an agreement with the Deme and QTerminals consortium for the construction of a container terminal in Świnoujście.

Large investments are also planned in the Port of Gdynia. On 30 June, bids were to be submitted in the tender for the construction of an external port, which will handle the transhipment of containers going to Gdynia terminals. The competitive dialogue lasted four years, and this year a private partner is finally to be selected to carry out the investment. However, the selection has been postponed until the end of October.

PB points to the takeover by a consortium of the American fund BlackRock and the world’s largest shipowner, MSC, of two terminals in the Panama Canal and 43 in various countries from the Chinese company Hutchison as one of the reasons for the delay. The package includes, among others, the container terminal in Gdynia owned by Hutchison, and at the same time, the Chinese operator is one of the potential investors in the outer port.

For now, it is difficult to predict whether MSC will maintain its investment plans related to Gdynia, and in addition, the change of ownership is not yet finalised, the newspaper notes.