DCT Gdansk gears up for the future

The ship-to-shore cranes will have a capacity of 60 tonnes and an outreach of 52 m, while the RTGs will have a capacity of 40 tonnes and a clear span of 24.35 m (seven containers wide plus a roadway). All eight cranes will be built in Ireland and erected on-site in Gdansk, with the first due to arrive in February 2007.

The cranes have been designed to unload vessels of 6,000 teu and above and will be capable of handling deep-sea vessels carrying 19 containers across on-deck. According to James Sutcliffe, CEO of DCT Gdansk, the Baltic Sea port is not expecting such large ships in the first few years of operation, but is positioning itself to receive larger post-Panamax vessels in the future.

“When we open our doors for business in June 2007, we expect our first customers to be regional short-sea and feeder operators employing ships of up to 1,200 teu, but the message we are sending out today is that when the major carriers decide to add a Baltic call to one of their many service strings, we will be ready,” he said.