DCT GDANSK, GATEWAY TO CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE, WELCOMES DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MR MORAWIECKI, AND ANNOUNCES FURTHER EXPANSION OF PLN 280M (EUR 65M)

October 2017 marks the 10th anniversary of DCT Gdansk – Poland’s largest and only deep-water container terminal. On this occasion the Management Board of DCT Gdansk SA has the honour to welcome Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Development and Finance Mr. Mateusz Morawiecki to the terminal. DCT Gdansk started operations in 2007, with one deep-water berth equipped with three Ship-to-Shore (STS) cranes and a total annual capacity of 500 000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent). In 10 years the terminal has grown 6-fold as at the end of 2016 Terminal 2 opened, lifting total capacity to 3m TEU, making the facility the largest in the Baltic Sea. Today DCT Gdansk has 1.3km of deep-water quay-line, eleven STS cranes, and handles over 460 vessels per year, including over 100 direct calls from Asia by the largest container vessels in the world. - One quarter of all vessels handled at the terminal in Gdansk are the largest ocean container ships. When speaking about DCT Gdansk two words seem to be crucial: “speed” and “development”. Investing in the terminal is a reaction to how much transportation time means to the import and export nowadays. The decision about the expansion of the terminal goes hand in hand with the reconstruction of the shipyard or supporting the research thanks to which Polish yachts are considered to be the best-constructed in Europe – said Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Minister of Development and Finance. On the occasion of its 10th anniversary and the visit of Deputy Prime Minister Mr Morawiecki, DCT Gdansk is announcing a new expansion programme worth PLN 280m (EUR 65m). “I’m extremely proud of the team here at DCT and all they’ve achieved over the last 10 years. This new investment shows the confidence our investors have in the future of Poland and that DCT will continue to focus on service excellence for the benefit of all of our valued customers” said Cameron Thorpe, DCT Gdansk Chief Executive Officer, he went on to say “Of course, DCT Gdansk is also one of the most efficient ways to connect to the upper Baltic Sea market and is one of the most cost competitive ways to serve the hinterland markets of the Czech Republic and Slovakia and elsewhere. DCT Gdansk really is the gateway to Central Europe”. On the berth it will include two new STS cranes which will be amongst the largest in the world. These will be supported by 5 more RTGs and additional yard area. The gate complex will be fully optimized and automated, so that drivers will no-longer have to exit their vehicles improving their safety and making the arrival process even more efficient. For our rail customers there will be a significant upgrade in rail capacity, with a fifty-percent increase in rail lines to six sidings, all of which will be extended to 750m – currently the longest possible in Europe. This enhanced rail operation will be handled by two new RMGs. This investment will further improve service levels to rail customers and also provide customers in land-locked countries such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia with a reliable and efficient alternative to established hubs by providing the lowest cost to access the industrial heartlands of those countries. “I am glad to be a part of this strategic project. It has significantly changed the Polish marine sector and notably benefits the Polish economy, strengthening the geopolitical position of our country. I am confident that DCT Gdansk will continue to develop so that our clients, consumers and Polish entrepreneurs will be able to fully benefit from the opportunities of trade with the rest of the world” – says Adam Żołnowski, Chief Financial Executive in DCT Gdansk SA. The project is due to be completed within the next 3-years, strengthening DCT Gdansk’s position as a unique logistics platform providing efficient international transshipment to the upper Baltic as well as the most cost-effective gateway to Poland Central Eastern Europe. DCT Gdansk, Gateway to Poland and Central, Eastern Europe.   About DCT: DCT Gdansk enables Poland to be connected to the largest shipping trade-lane between Europe and Asia. A vital piece of direct foreign investment, ensuring that Polish goods can trade with China more efficiently, reducing cost, providing more competitive delivery times and a lower carbon footprint per container than alternative ports. In 2017 DCT Gdansk will handle in excess of 1.5m TEU, with direct calls by the largest ships afloat. DCT Gdansk is the only terminal in the Baltic Sea capable of handling ships of this size. The terminal facilitates the generation of more than PLN 6 billion to the Polish state budget receipts from VAT, excise and customs duties. In late 2016 DCT Gdansk completed and opened its T2 facility, doubling capacity to 3million TEU annually and is now undertaking further expansion. DCT doesn’t just serve Poland but is also one of the most efficient ways to serve the Baltic Sea market via transhipment and also the most cost competitive way to serve the hinterland markets of the Czech Republic and Slovakia and elsewhere. About International Container Trade: They say the container is the box that changed the world. Today the containers ships that call DCT from Asia are the largest ships afloat. To give some context, if one was fully loaded and all of its containers were stacked one on top of the other, they would be a tower of containers reaching more than 50 kilometres into the sky, or more than six times higher than Mount Everest. On a single ship. Not all of those containers will be discharged or loaded at DCT Gdansk, but many of them will, because the market that DCT Gdansk serves is the fastest-growing in Europe. The sheer scale and size of these ships shows the vast scale of world trade and how important it is for Poland to be effectively connected of it.

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