Poland

Investments in intermodal terminals revolutionise Polish logistics

Author:
2021/10/27 at 10:43 AM

Large investments, which were discussed by the participants of the panel “Terminals and intermodal hubs” during the conference “Railway border crossings – a key to export and transit”, are currently being implemented and prepared in the Polish seaports and hinterland terminals.

The Port of Gdynia specialises in handling general cargo, containers and ro-ro transport. A new ferry terminal with good navigation conditions will soon be put into service in Gdynia. “We have obtained a large grant for this investment. The total gross cost of the construction of the new terminal was 291 million zloty. We expect the emergence of more ferry operators. The terminal will accept ships with a length of 240 metres and will be operational from January 2022,” said Mariusz Karbowski, head of the EU Projects Department at the Port of Gdynia Authority.

Fairway of the Port of Gdynia, source: Tadeusz Urbaniak / Port of Gdynia Authority

Intermodal transport is of great importance for the Port of Gdynia. “The New Silk Road is, on the one hand, some kind of competition for ports but, on the other hand, it opens up new business prospects for cargo transport from the East to Northern Europe. Małaszewicze can also be a gateway to eastern markets for Gdynia. In the coming years, we plan to expand the infrastructure for intermodal transport. We want to build a logistics centre in the western part of the port and we hope that we will be able to participate in competitions for co-financing intermodal investments organised by CEUTP (the Centre for EU Transport Projects – IntermodalNews). We also create a truck notification and management system. The vehicles will be parked in the new parking area and will be called at the gate. This system will be integrated with the city’s traffic control system,” announced Mariusz Karbowski.

Recently, transhipments at intermodal terminals in the Port of Gdańsk significantly developed, which made it one of the largest Baltic ports. “Within the recent years, the importance of DCT has increased, thanks to which Gdańsk gained the status of a universal port, which impacted on our position on the Baltic Sea. We are currently ranked third in the Baltic Sea in terms of transhipments. In the European ranking, Gdańsk moved up to 18th place, which we consider a success. The creation of conditions for handling the largest container ships allowed us to take first place in the Baltic Sea in terms of container volumes, and we are the 15th in the European ranking. We service 20 ships a day and the port’s capacity is three times greater,” said Katarzyna Szczycińska, customer manager of the Port of Gdańsk Authority.

The DCT terminal allows for reloading of over 3 million TEU per year, and investments have been initiated, which will increase this number to 4.5 million TEU. “We plan to increase the number of sidings to seven. The Port of Gdańsk will be able to serve new transport corridors. One of them will be a connection with the Black Sea based on rail transport. For the Turkish market, it will be an alternative to connections via Trieste. Railway border crossings on the eastern border of Poland: Medyka, Hrubieszów and Dorohusk, as well as Małaszewicze, which are important for the transit traffic of goods from China, are of strategic importance to us,” noted Katarzyna Szczycińska.

New intermodal hub

CLIP Intermodal is implementing a large investment near Poznań called Rail Mega Hub. The facility is located on the E 20 bus, which is one of the most important railway lines for intermodal transport in Poland. The hub will also have a good connection with the S5 road and the A2 motorway.

“Thanks to EU funds, we have started work to prepare the terminal to increase the storage capacity to 10,000 TEU. The railway intermodal hub will be able to handle eight trains simultaneously. We are planning to purchase two more cranes. We want the terminal’s work to have the least possible impact on the environment. To this end, we use renewable energy to power our cranes. For this purpose, we have installed photovoltaic panels on the roofs of the facilities in the logistics centre. Thanks to the EU funds, we also bought wagons for transporting containers and semi-trailers. Soon we will also acquire car transport wagons. One of our specialities is the transport of semi-trailers. Currently, they already account for 50 per cent of the terminal’s reloading work. We can handle all types of semi-trailers using the Nikrasa, Vega-VTG and Lohr systems. Next year, we plan to start the construction of the terminal in Małaszewicze. We also work with ATS Logistic in Dąbrowa Górnicza, where we have started to handle containers,” said Tomasz Lange, manager of the CLIP intermodal terminal.

Investments in terminals include not only infrastructure and handling equipment but also modern IT systems, which were discussed by Przemysław Galar, CEO of Necto. “Entrepreneurs want to achieve scalability of their activities so that employees can handle growing transports or transhipments without a significant increase in employment. Such an effect can be achieved thanks to IT tools that collect and present data on the basis of which we are able to make decisions. The recipe for a good system is good planning. Our tools have extensive elements of bidding and order preparation. It is important that the data we use is accurate, and that calculations and making decisions are automated. An important element is data analysis and drawing conclusions on how the company operate,” said the CEO of Necto.

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close