On Thursday, September 23rd, a ceremony was held to mark the completion of the construction of a public ferry terminal in the Port of Gdynia. This strategic investment has been the largest in the Port of Gdynia for nearly 50 years. This project will create the possibility of servicing much larger passenger ferries and will increase the Port’s reloading capacity in the field of ro-ro and ferry transport, thus contributing to maintaining the market advantage of the Port of Gdynia.
Ph. DORACO. Pictured from left: Jacek Sadaj, President of ZMPG, Maciej Horała, Polish MP, Dariusz Drelich, Pomeranian Voivode, Grzegorz Witkowski, Deputy Minister, Wojciech Szczurek, President of Gdynia, Hanna Wenda – Uszyńska, granddaughter of Tadeusz Wenda, eng., Karol Zduńczyk, President of DORACO, Kazimierz Koralewski, Vice President of ZMPG, Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychała, Vice President of Gdynia, Maciej Bąk, Vice President of ZMPG.
“This is one of the most spectacular projects implemented by DORACO in recent years. The public ferry terminal project involved a wide range of activities in almost all trades of construction (building, hydrotechnical, sanitary, electrical, ICT, road, bridge) and mechanical engineering. In the latter, it is noteworthy to point out unusual and innovative solutions in the field of mobile coupling devices and a system of mobile ramps, thanks to which the quality and speed of unloading at the public ferry terminal in the Port of Gdynia will be significantly improved” said Karol Zduńczyk, President of the Board of DORACO. “The activities associated with the investment were carried out on an extensive area (over 6 ha), which required DORACO to efficiently coordinate the work of over 200 specialists from all of the trades as mentioned above.”
Ph. DORACO
Ph. DORACO
To construct the large maneuvering yards, over 6.5 ha of maneuvering areas were constructed, paved with paving blocks, over 5 km of sanitary networks were created, 1,150 m of track and almost the same amount of yard fencing were erected, and high lighting poles were installed to illuminate the entire parking area. Two hundred eighty tons of reinforcing steel, 330 tons of steel structure, and almost 4,500 m3 of concrete were used to construct the buildings, i.e., the terminal building, warehouse, photoshooters, and the passenger gallery. The new public ferry terminal has been fitted out with specialist equipment whose design and method of operation enables a wide range of ferry types. These include a set of quayside ramps and a mobile coupling, i.e., a track-mounted device which provides pedestrian communication for passengers and staff between the permanent gallery of the ferry terminal and the ferry.
Ph. DORACO
The public ferry terminal in the Port of Gdynia was implemented following the idea of a green port, which is expressed by the electric connection used for such an installation for the first time in Poland. It will be used by ferries docked at the terminal. The OPS, or onshore power supply, also known as cold ironing, is a system designed to supply electricity to a ship from shore while it is in port, eliminating carbon dioxide emissions, sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, and fine particles. It also reduces the vibration and noise produced by the generators on the ferry and extends the life of the ship’s auxiliary engines by not using them. This reduces the negative impact of ferry transport on the environment and its effect on the city center. The comfort of the ferry crew is also improved.
The project is co-financed by the European Union from the Cohesion Fund under the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment in the perspective of the years 2014 – 2020. The investment value is approximately PLN 290 million, of which the European Union co-financing is PLN 116,837,137.67.