Page 24: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Sep/Oct 2018)

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PORT LOGISTICS

The competition, however, have other entry points in the UK.” for the large ships. That’s why the biggest lines choose Gdansk as

Indeed, the company’s competitors tend to access the UK market last port for overseas (journeys). Gdynia can’t accommodate the from North and South with longer travel times to reach the same big ships due to the depth of the fairway.” number of Britons. Indeed, a quick look the port saw the 399-meter-long Majestic

Maersk quayside at Gdansk, on its way eastward (though not be-

Shortsea Strength fore anchoring in the roomy Bay of Gdansk).

Gdynia and Immingham are more confned ports and, like Oslo, they’re tightly bound to city administrations that act like partner- Smaller Ports landlords. While port administrations faced with space challenges The new, EU-sponsored cranes at Gdynia and the port’s new look to regional offcials for funds and go-aheads, terminal opera- ocean-going connection strategy are partly aimed at competing tors beneft from any changes that assist the arrival and retrieval with Gdansk, although Gdynia is “not just containers, but lots of shortsea cargoes. of different cargoes, including frozen, general freight and bulk.” “For our services, the smaller vessels and short-sea is some- Overall, Wiese says, “the situation is favourable” for Baltic Sea thing we use the advantage of Gdynia for. In the big terminals, ports that engage UK and overseas trade. It’s so favourable, that they don’t want to service smaller vessels. The smaller vessels Unifeeder’s competitors have opened their own connection from are more preferred in smaller ports,” Wiese says, adding that the Gdynia. Rather than compete, the company has chosen to cooper- company’s main hub is Gdynia, a port doing better than it was ate on charter agreements. two years ago but still lagging the growth seen at Gdansk and “We book on their vessels, so the Gdynia connection still ex- other elsewhere, including Immingham. Gdansk, however, is be- ists. The trade with Norway, (for one), is growing. Norway is coming a short-sea port of choice. high in the ranking of Poland’s foreign (trade) partners,” he says, “When we consider Gdansk as Number One, it’s because Gdan- pointing to the latest numbers. Also high in that ranking, is the sk is an open port much more accessible from the sea for the big- UK, and as we wrote these lines, Unifeeder opened a new UK- gest ships. The approach conditions, the fairway is much better Netherlands service.

Short-sea surge: the IDA Rambow in transhipment

Credit: Unifeeder 24 Maritime Logistics Professional September/October 2018 | |