DCT Gdansk, Poland’s newest deepwater port facility, celebrated its first day of commercial operations today (1 June) with the arrival of the 822TEU Team Lines’ ship Götaland. The 136-metre container vessel – en route from Klaipeda, Lithuania to Hamburg, Germany – berthed alongside the brand new terminal at 12.00hrs to load 53 Hapag-Lloyd containers, totaling 55TEU. On site to toast the arrival of the terminal’s first ship were the President of the Port, Stanislaw Cora, and the Mayor of the City of Gdansk, Marcin Szpak, as well as Customs and border guard officials, all of whom were welcomed by DCT Gdansk’s management team including the company’s CEO, Colin Chanter, and General Manager, Fred Kamperman.

Mr Chanter praised the various government and public authorities who have played such an important role in the creation of this new port facility and then Mr Kamperman presented a shield displaying the City of Gdansk coat of arms and an array of containers to Götaland’s master, Captain Dieter Kube, to mark the occasion.

Commenting on the arrival of Götaland, Mr Chanter said: „It’s almost two years ago that we set today, 1 June, as the inauguration date of DCT Gdansk’s commercial operations and it is extremely gratifying to see that the first ship has berthed right on schedule. Everyone associated with this project should be very proud. Not only is it a testament to the professional approach adopted by our contractors, Hochtief, Van Oord and Liebherr, but also to all of the companies, large and small, who have played their part in this project.

„I would add too that we have been very impressed by the quality of the individual workers who have participated in the construction of the terminal and the high caliber of the local workforce we have recruited to manage and operate the terminal. Their positive attitude towards the training programme’s we implemented will pay dividends in the months and years to come, of that we can be sure.

„We are particularly thrilled that Team Lines and Hapag-Lloyd, both leading names in the container shipping industry, have made our first day in business so memorable. We are sure that they will be followed very soon by other major operators as they realise the tremendous potential we have here at DCT Gdansk.”

DCT Gdansk presently has two post-Panamax ship-to-shore (STS) cranes and three rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes in operation and is linked to Poland’s transport infrastructure by new road and rail links. By September 2007 the terminal will be operating with three STS cranes and five RTGs with attendant yard space and back-up machinery to give the facility an annual throughput capacity of 500,000TEU.