The further expansion of Klaipeda’s container terminal capacity highlights ice-free Baltic ports’ belief that they will eventually return to being major gateways into Eastern Europe, especially Russia.Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Southern Baltic ports have struggled to get back on the map as major gateways into Eastern Europe due to red-tape border controls. Russia would have preferred that Poland and the Baltic States became part of the Russian Commonwealth (CIS), instead of the European Union.

Time is a great healer, however, and new opportunities are now opening up for Southern Baltic ports involving both hinterland and transhipment traffic. In November, Gdansk’s Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT) celebrated handling one million teu/annum for the first time, raising expectations of neighbouring ports such as Klaipeda and Gdynia. As shown in the following table, recent cargo growth has well exceeded Europe’s average in all other ports too.

Table 1
Development of Container Volumes at Selected Baltic Ports, 2006-12 (teu)


Source: Drewry Maritime Research

All the southern Baltic ports are now chasing the prospect of more direct calls by big ships. This seems inevitable given the “follow my leader” effect of Maersk Line, which has been calling successfully at Gdansk with a single Asia-Europe string for a number of years already. Moreover, the provisional P3 Alliance schedule reaffirms this call from 2Q 14. The G6 Alliance also wanted to start calling at DCT Gdansk in 2012 but, despite the terminal only having the single Maersk Line call per week, the G6 was reportedly “unable to find a berthing window” so dropped its plans. However, the emergence of the P3 is likely to rekindle the interest in a southern Baltic direct call not only of the G6, but also perhaps the CKYH Alliance. Significantly DCT signed an agreement with the Gdansk port authority earlier this year to develop a second terminal, DCT2, adjacent to the existing facility.

Gdansk has been successful not only in establishing itself as a transhipment hub for Maersk Line to serve the large St. Petersburg market by feeder, but also as an overland gateway to points beyond Poland such as Belarus and Russia. The latter is perhaps the biggest prize, given its greater opportunity for added value activities – and is one which will be competed for just as strongly as transhipment activity. Logistics specialist Goodman is developing the Pomeranian Logistics Centre adjacent to DCT, and the port is actively promoting port centric logistics for both local Polish and extended hinterlands. Kuehne & Nagel and Terramar have already been signed up as tenants.

Klaipeda Container Terminal, which currently accounts for around two thirds of the Lithuanian port’s near 400,000 teu p.a. container traffic, has recently increased berth length by over 40% to 780 metres. Maximum draft though is limited to 10 metres, suggesting a continued focus on feeder business. However, Klaipeda’s other container terminal is undergoing more significant expansion with a doubling of the quay length to over 1,000 metres and dredging to 14.5 metres. Operated by Klaipedos Smelte, controlled by MSC affiliated terminal operator TIL, the work is designed to enable ships of up to 11,500 teu to be handled and is reportedly part of a plan to allow the terminal to become a transhipment hub for MSC with a capacity of 800,000 teu p.a.

The expansion follows the completion earlier this year of a $48m dredging of the port’s approach channel to 14.5 metres, allowing vessels of up to 13.4 metres draft to navigate. This though is still short of DCT’s 16 metre draft and proven 18,000 teu ship size capability, so it is unsurprising that Klaipeda is also examining several long term possibilities for deep water expansion, including an outer harbour concept. Interestingly despite the MSC connection, Klaipeda has not been included in the provisional P3 Alliance schedule as a direct call. The vessel size intended for the Baltic loop is 14,000 teu and therefore too big for the port, at least at present.

Table 1
Development of Container Volumes at Selected Baltic Ports, 2006-12 (teu)


















Source: Drewry Maritime Research


Klaipeda is not the only southern Baltic port with eyes on the greater prize. The Polish port of Gdynia, Gdansk’s near neighbour, is seeking to deepen its channel and enlarge its turning basin in order to be able to accommodate post-Panamax vessels of up to 13,000 teu. Its ICTSI operated Baltic Container Terminal is investing $51m in larger gantry cranes and supporting equipment, as well as enhancing the rail facilities in the terminal. Also, Hutchison operated Gdynia Container Terminal is linked to the development of a new berth a Bulgarskie Wharf with a length of 357m and a depth alongside of 15m.

Meanwhile Kaliningrad, Russia’s only ice free port in the Baltic, has also been linked with container capacity expansion plans, although there have been no firm developments. The port faces stiff competition from the more established southern Baltic competitors although it is an obvious gateway to other parts of Russia and also neighbouring countries like Belarus. For example, Russian Railways’ intermodal affiliate TransContainer recently started a new block train service between Kaliningrad and Moscow with a transit time of around 2.5 days. Interestingly the Russian Black Sea port company Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) is one of the container terminal operators in Baltiysk (Kaliningrad) today, meaning that Kaliningrad ticks additional boxes as far as “Russian cargo through Russian ports” is concerned.

One of the other major Russian port operators, St. Petersburg based NCC, has previously been linked with the development of a greenfield terminal in Riga (Latvia), although there appears to have been no progress, plus the intended acquisition of NCC by rival Russian operator GPI may well lead to a reassessment of strategic intentions.

Figure 2
Ownership of Selected Eastern European Container Terminals, Baltic Sea

Our View

Mainline vessel calls in ice-free southern Baltic ports for transhipment and overland gateway traffic are now well established by Maersk at Gdansk, and the P3 Alliance looks set to continue this trend. Other ports will seek to copy this success, but they face ship size limitations even with their planned investments. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that Russian Customs still has the power to ‘discourage’ cross-border traffic, should it be deemed in the national interest.
Source: Drewry Maritime Research