Poland setting up EU's largest logistics hub to transship cargo for Ukraine - PM

MINSK. May 26 (Interfax) - Poland is upgrading infrastructure of the Euroterminal Slawkow in the southwest to tangibly expand its capabilities and make it the largest logistics hub in the European Union, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

"I can say without exaggeration that here in Slawkow in Silesia we will have the largest logistics hub of this type in Europe. It is not only about breaking records, it will also be a golden deal for Poland," Polish media quoted Tusk as saying.

Once the crisis in Ukraine is over, Euroterminal Slawkow will be transshipping cargo for all Asia, he said.

"There is nothing wrong with saying this: we want to make big money for Poland from the reconstruction of Ukraine. We want to help, but we also want to make money from it, and for that we need this special hub. It should not be like it was before, when everyone was involved, including Poland - I am talking about the war in Iraq - and then the big ones made money from the reconstruction, while Poland was left out in the cold," Tusk said.

Euroterminal Slawkow is located at the junction of the broad gauge (1520 millimeter) and standard gauge (1435 millimeter) railway lines, providing transshipment of containers transported by rail between the Far East and Asia, as well as Western Europe, including through Ukraine. After its expansion, the throughput capacity will be exceed 500,000 TEU (standard containers) per year versus the current 285,000 TEU.