GCT is a full-service container and heavy-lift handling facility in Gdynia, occupying around 20 hectares and almost 600 meters of waterfront in the Baltic Sea port.
The terminal sits right across from a Polish special forces base and navy shipyard where Polish missile frigates are being built. The U.S. Department of Defense temporarily uses a nearby dock to unload NATO and U.S. military gear for northeastern Europe, as well as equipment bound for Ukraine.
Security concerns are not only limited to Hutchison’s proximity to key NATO and Polish military assets in the port, but also to the company’s ability to interfere with the port’s accessibility.
In August, equipment for the American army was to be unloaded on a dock near GCT. However the ship’s bow protruded about 50 meters into Hutchison’s zone, and the company refused to consent to the unloading. The Gdynia port authorities tried to intervene to find a solution, but ultimately the transshipment of the military equipment was unsuccessful.
War worries
The war raging in Ukraine is serving as a wake-up call for the Polish authorities, and they are now discussing ways of securing critical infrastructure in the country.
Last month, the Polish parliament’s Special Forces Committee, chaired by Marek Biernacki, an MP with the Third Way, part of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s ruling coalition, discussed the protection of critical infrastructure objects in Polish maritime areas — focused on offshore wind farms and the port in Gdynia.
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