Stena Spirit departure from the New Public Ferry Terminal in the Port of Gdynia to Sweden

The ferry Stena Spirit of the ferry operator Stena Line Polska on Friday departed as the first scheduled voyage (to Sweden) from the new Public Ferry Terminal. Thus, the commercial operation of the new terminal started.

The authorities of the Port of Gdynia informed in their announcement that on Friday the ferry Stena Spirit set off for the first scheduled cruise to Sweden from the new Public Ferry Terminal.

Vice President of the Port of Gdynia Authority, Kazimierz Koralewski, quoted in the announcement stressed that the construction of the Public Ferry Terminal is the largest investment carried out in the Port of Gdynia in almost 50 years.

“The new Public Ferry Terminal creates the possibility of servicing much bigger passenger ferries, simultaneously increasing the port’s handling capacity in the scope of ro-ro and ferry transport”. – assessed the vice-president. He added that after months of testing and preparation, Port Gdynia meets the highest safety standards in the Baltic Sea basin. “This makes the Port of Gdynia competitive in the Baltic Sea region and through the planned investments it meets the expectations of the market”. – assured Koralewski, quoted in the announcement.

Marek Kiersnowski, managing director of Stena Line Polska, who was also quoted in the Port Authority’s communiqué, noted that moving Stena Line’s operations to the Public Ferry Terminal in Gdynia allows the company he manages to introduce much larger vessels.

“The new terminal has a much longer quay than the current one, which allows vessels as long as 240m such as E-Flexer class vessels to berth there,” – Kiersnowski explained.

In an official announcement, Port of Gdynia spokesman Aleksander Wicka added that Stena Line is introducing two ‘E-Flexer’ class ro-pax ferries on the route between Gdynia and Karlskrona, Sweden, in response to increased demand for transport in the Baltic Sea region. The two new vessels – according to the communiqué – will begin operations as soon as they arrive from the shipyard, where the final stage of their construction is currently underway (one has already set off for Europe, but stopped in Chinese ports for loading – ed.). They will be among the largest ferries on the Baltic in regular shipping. They will be able to take on board up to 1,200 passengers and rolling cargo on a ro-ro cargo lane of 3,600 metres of cargo (+ passenger cars).

The Public Ferry Terminal is an investment in the Port of Gdynia completed last year. It is located near the entrance to the port, at the Polish Quay, which facilitates the manoeuvring of ferries with a length of 240 metres, because this is what the new terminal will be able to receive – much larger than it was possible in the case of the existing one, in the depth of the port, by the container terminal.

There will also be a reduction in the time taken for a ship to call at the port, from the start of berthing to the vessel’s departure. The total manoeuvring time will not exceed 120 minutes – reads the official announcement of the Port Authority.

An important aspect of the new Public Ferry Terminal is the possibility of supplying the ferries with electricity from the shore during their stop (so-called cold ironig; shore power supply). This fits in with the idea of the so-called green port. This solution completely eliminates the emission of fumes during the stay of ferries at the quay.

The value of the investment amounts to over 290 million PLN, of which the subsidy from the European Union is 116.8 million PLN.

source: PortalMorski.pl