WASHINGTON: With 2016 not yet over, the volume of transshipments was already higher than in the previous record year, being currently estimated at more than 36.3 million tonnes. This is a result which, until recently, would have been out of reach for any Polish port, but today it has become reality. It puts Gdansk in sixth place among Baltic Sea ports, its highest position so far. This is what is shown by recently published data on the Baltic ports, with a summary of the first 11 months of this year.
In spite of the rather difficult market conditions and the increasingly strong competition, this has turned out to be yet another year – now the sixth in a row – of continuous growth in commodity turnover at the Port of Gdansk. Apart from the new record and the move up in the ranking of the largest Baltic ports, it also brought a record tonnage of general cargo, which will have the highest percentage share in Gdansk’s commodity turnover for the first time since time immemorial. For many years the dominant role has been played by liquid fuels, of which the port will handle a slightly reduced quantity this year – about 13 million tonnes. 2016 will doubtless also be remembered as yet another period of growth in container turnover. As of now, 1.27 million TEUs have been handled at Gdansk, 16% more than in 2015 and 5% more than in the record year of 2014. But we already know that this increase will be even greater when we sum up the full 12 months of the current year. The passing year has also been particularly good when it comes to coal transshipments. We currently need just under 100,000 tonnes more to exceed a volume of 5 million. In practice, this will mean the highest tonnage of coal at Gdansk in a decade. To date, the record year in this respect was 2013, when the port handled 4.6 million tonnes of that material.
Figures for 2016 are also very good in terms of what is called other bulk cargo turnover. Before the complete summary of December, the result here is estimated at 3.6 million tonnes (including transshipments of ore) and is the third best result in the last 10 years. To sum up, just like 2015, 2016 will go down in the history of the Port of Gdansk as an incredibly successful year, not only in terms of commodity turnover and further consistent enhancement of Gdansk’s position on the maritime map of Europe, but also as a year of investments, very important for the future of the port – both those that have been completed and those that are just starting. The complete 2016 summary will be published soon.
