Statement of the Port of Gdansk on the Rainbow Warrior III

05.09.2019

Following the statement sent to the media by Greenpeace, the Port of Gdansk Authority SA hereby declares as follows:

1. The official request for an unspecified quay to be made available for mooring was submitted to the PGA on Friday, 30 August 2019.

The Chief Port Dispatcher of the Port of Gdansk corresponded with and talked on the phone to the agent of the Rainbow Warrior III vessel in order to be able to determine the precise time and purpose of the ship’s call at the Port of Gdansk. As a result of these talks, the agent selected two quays (to quote: “Please provide information on the possibility of calling at Gdansk, as in our previous correspondence (Ziolkowskiego, Westerplatte)”).

2. In response, the Chief Port Dispatcher of the Port of Gdansk declared that:

“one of them [the Westerplatte Quay] is an operational quay and its adjacent area is a restricted zone, where goods are transshipped 24 hours a day.
The only generally accessible quay is the Kapitana Ziolkowskiego Quay mentioned in this e-mail, which is currently undergoing renovation and modernisation, and so there is no possibility to organise the intended event in its adjacent area.
[…] the said quay is also used by vessels owned by port entities providing services to commercial ships. Additionally, the quay is where water trams moor from spring till late autumn according to regular schedule”.

Therefore, it is impossible to plan out logistics solutions for several entities using the Ziolkowskiego Quay on such short notice. It is worth noting that in the e-mail correspondence (not in the official request) of 29 August 2019, the agent of the Rainbow Warrior III stated that “due to the renovation of the Ziolkowskiego Quay, it is not a convenient location for the vessel in question”.

The Port of Gdansk Authority – as made evident above – attempted to find a solution to the situation, yet due to technical reasons, it is impossible for the Rainbow Warrior III vessel to moor at the quay within the specified time and given the strictly specified requirements of the agent and Greenpeace.

Media contact:
Agata Kupracz
Spokesperson
(+48) 605 640 012
Rzecznik.Prasowy@portgdansk.pl

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