Princess Alexandra today inaugurated the new DFDS
Terminal built by Port of Copenhagen A/S. The Minister of
Transport, Flemming Hansen, and the Lord Mayor of
Copenhagen, Jens Kramer Mikkelsen, attended the ceremony.
The new terminal provides improved facilities, especially
for the more than 800,000 passengers who travel to and from
Norway each year. The passenger building is designed to make it easy for
travellers to find their way, with a minimum of walking and
direct access to the ships. A greenish shade of glass was
chosen to fit in with the 16-storey "Copper Tower" behind
the terminal. The DFDS Terminal will be devoted mainly to passenger
traffic to Oslo but a freight route to Lithuania will also
dock there. Later in the month, on 22 September, a new
Gothenburg-Copenhagen-Gdansk route will open. DFDS is also
currently negotiating with Polferries to move the
Copenhagen-Swinoujscie route to the new terminal from Ndr.
Toldbod. The new terminal is slightly further from the city
centre than the old one at Sankt Annæ Plads but is very
close to a train station and has more room for loading and
unloading cars. DFDS Seaways has signed an agreement with
HUR (the Greater Copenhagen Authority) to provide a
12-minute express bus service to Kgs. Nytorv. DFDS will pay
for the scheme. The Port of Copenhagen has sold the ground at the old
terminal site at Sankt Annæ Plads to the Danish State, and
construction work on a new theatre is due to start there in
October 2004. Kvæsthusbroen has served as a base for DFDS
ever since the company was founded in the 1860s. The Port of Copenhagen is building a whole new district
behind the DFDS Terminal. One building, the 16-storey
"Copper Tower", has already been completed and flats and
corporate apartments are currently under construction. "The architects have opted for a modern Scandinavian
idiom - bright and friendly. Bright and friendly are good
signals to emit when you greet guest to the port and city
and when you bid them farewell again," said Jens Kramer
Mikkelsen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen and chair of the board
of the Port of Copenhagen A/S. The DFDS Terminal - Facts Developer: Port of Copenhagen A/S Lease holder: DFDS A/S Contractors:
MT Højgaard (outdoor): 3 ferry berths, 650 m of wharf
and 42,000 m2 terminal space. NCC (buildings): 4,400 m2 passenger terminal on a 200 m
long pier. The actual terminal building is 165 m long. The
control station is 1,000 m2 Interior of the passenger terminal: 1st floor: ticket
sales, Customs & Excise and access to ships at the
pier. 2nd floor: passport control and offices. Ground
floor: warehouse for storing supplies. Architects: 3 x Nielsen. Interior of control station: The control station
contains vehicle check-in, freight offices, indoor
spot-check facilities, storage space, etc. Capacity: three ships, 1,800 passengers, 400 cars or 100
trailers per voyage. Total price: approximately DKK 350 million. Activities at terminal Passenger route: Copenhagen-Helsingborg-Oslo Freight routes:
Copenhagen-Fredericia-Klaipeda
Gothenburg-Copenhagen-Gdansk (from 22 September
2004) Transport to city centre: Bus to Kgs. Nytorv. Urban development
Five hundred homes and 50,000 m2 of business premises
are being built south of the ferry terminal, providing
2-3,000 new jobs. First new building: The Copper Tower.
Homes and corporate apartments are currently under
construction. History
The area came into being when the Freeport, which
opened in 1894, was established. The steam ferry route to
Malmö opened in 1895. The last railway passengers passed
though the Freeport in 1975. From 1986-2000, the site was
used by DanLink (DSB and SJ) to sail railway carriages
Copenhagen-Helsingborg. All the rail transport is now via
the Øresund Bridge. The original Freeport station will be
restored when Amerika Plads opens.
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