In 2016 the port of Gdansk, Poland, has handled nearly 500,000 trucks and almost 240,000 railway wagons. This was an increase of 43 % in terms of trucks and 24 % in terms of the intensity of rail traffic in comparison to 2015.
After summarising the twelve months of 2016, the Mana[ds_preview]gement Board of the Port of Gdansk Authority (PGA) can announce record data relating to the use of overland transport. Last year, on average, one loaded truck was handled in the port every one minute, and a goods train every 1.5 hours. The current dynamics confirms the large increase in the importance of Gdansk in the operation of overland transport.
According to the Polish in 2016, the outer port accounted for three-quarters of the traffic. The share of individual means of transport in overland freight handling in Gdansk was 31 % for railways, 29 % for trucks and 40 % for pipeline transport. The latter has seen an 8 % drop in the share structure, with an increase of 5 % in truck traffic and 3 % in the share of rail transport in overland freight handling.
Truck traffic was mainly used to transport general cargo (containers) as well as bulk cargo such as aggregates, chemicals and grain. Rail was used to transport primarily coal, containers and loads of chemicals, including fertilisers.
Regarding coal, it should be noted that in the past year a change in the directional structure of freight handling took place. Although rail transport still dominated, the number of trucks picking up raw materials from the port and transporting them into the country increased by as much as 45 %.
New railway bridge
According to estimates collected from port operators, the newly built railway bridge over the Martwa Wisla was crossed by a total of more than 5,600 trains, which equates to more than 220,000 wagons. In making the calculations, the operators did not take into account trains which crossed the bridge without goods. Average daily rail freight traffic amounted to ca. 15 trains a day, or more than 620 wagons a day.
The achievement of such a result is pleasing, all the more so because during two quarters only one track was in operation on the bridge the port stated. The second track was opened in the third quarter of 2016.
Last year the Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT) Gdansk has handled 1.3 mill TEU. This was a in container handling for the port and also for whole container handling in Poland.
