Swedish ports are interested in the project of connecting the intermodal corridor of the Black and Baltic Seas

 

 The Swedish ports of Gavle and Norrkoping are interested in becoming the end point of a route connecting the Black and Baltic Seas.

This was discussed during the webinar "Creating a new corridor between the Baltic and Black Seas", organized on February 11 by the administration of the Polish port of Gdansk.

According to Slawomir Michalewski, Vice President of Finance at the Port of Gdansk, the port has been growing steadily in recent years. It is one of the four largest ports in the Baltics and is the second largest transshipment container in the Baltic Sea. Last year, the port of Gdansk handled 48 million tons of cargo, and in the following years raised the bar to 60 million tons.

Michalewski noted that traffic between Poland and Ukraine increased significantly in the period from 2018 to 2020. Therefore, Gdansk has increased investment in the modernization of the railway system, building 80 km of new tracks and modernizing 3 freight stations.

The same applies to the entire Polish railway system and the Medika and Dorogusk border crossings, which are ready to increase capacity. In general, Mikhalevsky said, "access to the port is ready, we just expect that our Ukrainian colleagues will take action."

The webinar was also attended by representatives of two Swedish ports - Gavle and Norrkoping. They supported the idea of ​​a potential Black Sea-Baltic connection and the extension of this corridor to the Scandinavian countries. Moreover, they expressed a desire to join the corridor and stated that Gävle and Norrkoping could become endpoints in it, as they could offer a lot both in terms of exports and imports.

The rising interest in the connection of the Black Sea and Baltic ports is reinforced and increased by the role of Turkey as a major hub in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as the presence of connections that are actively used between Turkish and Ukrainian ports.

According to some participants of the webinar, the restraining factor is the railway connection between the ports of Ukraine and Poland.

For its part, Ukrzaliznytsia has already announced its participation in the project, including plans to develop the Turkey-Ukraine-Poland intermodal route.

    On December 24, 2020, the Lisky Railway Transport Service Center signed a memorandum of cooperation with Ukrferry and FerriPlus on the development of the Turkey-Ukraine-Poland multimodal route. The memorandum is open for signing by any company wishing to participate in the development and operation of the route, ”said Edwin Berzins, Executive Director of the Lisky CTS branch of JSC UZ.

UZ has also made proposals for the development of a new transport corridor between the Baltic and Black Seas, which will increase freight traffic between Poland, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine.

    "We have proposed an exact calculated route (Turkey - Ukraine - Poland) together with partners in this project," Berzins said.