A new combi wall at the Port of Gdańsk, Poland, begun in February 2019, will result in a new wharf by 2020 that will be 1,220 meters(4,000 feet) long. The most important part of the wharf, the steel piles, came from SSAB.  “We chose steel piles from SSAB for one main reason: their quality,” says Tomasz Rybarczyk, group sites manager with Keller Polska Sp. z o.o., the subcontractor responsible for soil improvement and building the combi wall. “They are crucial for the future stability of the quay. The high quality of the components translates directly to a safer work environment. An important feature is that they are delivered with interlocks.”

Bartosz Michalski, a construction manager with Budimex, the general contractor, appreciates the products from SSAB and the cooperation with the company. “We decided on a rather unusual solution – steel piles from SSAB and sheet piles from another supplier,” he says. “All the 437 piles
were shipped from SSAB’s Oulainen Works in Finland directly to the wharf in six tranches, which made it easier for us to precisely follow the schedule. All this, combined with superior quality and a competitive price, makes our cooperation excellent.”

When Keller completes its part of the project, Budimex will continue with steel and concrete work, followed by the installation of cranes and other harbor equipment. At the same time, the canal will be dredged and deepened from current three to five meters(10 to 16 feet) to 11.5 meters(38 feet), which will enable cargo ships as long as 250 meters(820 feet) to enter the harbor. The new quay will be operational in 2020 and will enable further development of the Port of Gdańsk. “We are currently number four on the Baltic Sea, with 49.1 million tonnes of cargo in 2018, an advance from number six only two years ago,” says Agata Kupracz, a press spokesperson for the Port of Gdańsk. “And with this new wharf and the next ones we hope to grow in rank and jump up on the podium.”