ICTSI tops off Polish terminal upgrade

MANILA, Philippines — The Polish operations of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) has completed the $42-million enhancement to its facility to set off its capacity expansion for larger vessels.

ICTSI said it has delivered the first of its two-phased upgrades for the Baltic Container Terminal’s (BCT) Helskie Quay in the Port of Gydnia in Poland.

BCT CEO Wojciech Szymulewicz said the project marks the terminal’s first step toward docking larger ships, which would be realized once the second phase is completed.

Under the first phase, BCT constructed 400 meters of quay with a depth of 15.5 meters. Further, the company installed a new third rail to accommodate wider cranes and additional structures.

Afterward, BCT will invest another $42 million to proceed with the second phase of the project, which is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter next year. The company will demolish and reconstruct quay sections, as well as bring in new crane tracks, in the second phase.

Szymulewicz said the project would enable the BCT to welcome larger vessels and, as a result, increase cargo throughput.

The BCT is rounding off the infrastructure upgrade with the purchase of at least two quay cranes capable of handling post-Panamax ships, which can carry as heavy as 12,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in one go.

“The cranes are also expected to raise the BCT’s annual berth handling capacity to between 1.2 million and 1.6 million TEUs depending on the final configuration,” Szymulewicz said.

Further, the BCT will receive another boost from the construction of a new road that would link a nine-hectare storage yard with Helskie Quay. The project will be bid out in the third quarter of this year, and the target is to have it finished by 2026.

With the BCT undergoing enhancements, the terminal is attracting more cargo vessels to call in it. MSC’s Britannia Service linking Asia and Europe has begun operating in the BCT since April, on top of the relaunched Ecuador-NWS and Scanbaltic-USA voyage.

ICTSI is investing $580 million for capital expenditures this year, confident that it can withstand US President Donald Trump’s tariff offensive by betting on more projects.

ICTSI is one of the largest port builders in the world in the 50,000 to 3.5 million TEU range, as it controls a portfolio of terminals running across six continents.