Today, during a media briefing at the headquarters of the ministry in Warsaw, the Ministry of Infrastructure presented this year's results of ports of strategic importance for the national economy.

The conference was attended by the Minister of Infrastructure Dariusz Klimczak and the Deputy Minister responsible for maritime economy and inland navigation Arkadiusz Marchewka. Before they presented the figures regarding the financial results and transshipment in the ports of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Szczecin-Świnoujście in 2024, Minister Klimczak announced that this year the government will allocate a record amount of PLN 2 billion to support investments related to the development of the maritime economy. He also spoke about the four most important investments currently underway in the sector: the construction of the Deepwater Container Terminal in Świnoujście, the grain terminal in the Port of Gdańsk, the completion of the preparation of the fairway to the Port of Elbląg and the construction of access infrastructure to the nuclear power plant.

Major investments

The Minister summarized that the Deepwater Container Terminal in Świnoujście has obtained a location decision, and the first contracts for seabed and ferromagnetic research have been signed. The investment is to be completed at the turn of 2028 and 2029. Klimczak also stated that the previous government had failed to build a grain terminal, the construction of which in Gdańsk was announced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the end of the previous year. Dariusz Klimczak reported that the transshipment capacity of this terminal will increase from its current capacity from 700 thousand tons to 3 million tons per year, while storage capacity will be increased fivefold. Work is also underway on the Elbląg River to deepen the waterway to the port in Elbląg.

- TheVistula Spit Canal made no sense from the point of view of the economic function of the port in Elbląg - said Klimczak. - Now the sea route to the port will be completed. We have signed the relevant agreements, announced tenders, and deepening is taking place. Elbląg will gain the function of a sea port. The last investment mentioned by the Minister of Infrastructure was the access infrastructure to the nuclear power plant under construction. For its needs, the so-called MOLF, a sea pier will be built for the transshipment of elements necessary for construction. Klimczak also spoke about a number of other projects, including access roads and railway investments. In total, the access infrastructure to the power plant is to absorb PLN 4.7 billion.

Good level of transshipment

Deputy Minister Arkadiusz Marchewka discussed the results of the seaports in Gdańsk, Gdynia and Szczecin-Świnoujście. He noted that he was presenting data for 2024 in relation to data for 2023.

The total net profit generated by the ports last year amounted to PLN 551.7 million and was higher than in 2023 by PLN 113 million, which is an increase of 26%. The Port of Gdańsk generated PLN 263,863,000, over PLN 51.6 million more than a year earlier (an increase of 24%). The Port of Gdynia recorded a net profit of PLN 140,211,000, PLN 34.2 million more than in 2023 (an increase of 32%). The financial result of the Szczecin-Świnoujście port complex is PLN 147,679,848, PLN 27.3 million more than a year ago (an increase of 23%).

- The financial results are very good, even excellent, because in each of the ports they were increased by 20-30%. In total, Polish ports, the largest ones, for which we are responsible, generated a net profit of PLN 551 million. This increase year on year shows that rational management, professional staff, and not party cronies, bring results - commented Arkadiusz Marchewka for the GospodarkaMorska.pl portal.

Speaking about transshipments, Deputy Minister Marchewka emphasized that he was providing data without including statistics on coal transshipments due to the large-scale import campaign of this raw material implemented in 2023. He added that in 2024, approximately 10.5 million tons of coal passed through Polish ports, which is about half of what was transhipped a year earlier (7.8 million tons were transhipped in Gdańsk, 1.14 million tons in Gdynia, 1.5 million tons in Szczecin-Świnoujście).

Excluding coal transhipping, Polish ports transhipped a comparable amount of cargo as in 2023 and more than 2022: 125,705,581 tons. The Deputy Minister noted that last year brought record container transshipments – in all three ports they amounted to 3,270,784 TEU, which is an increase of 9.33% compared to 2023. Data on containerized cargo was also provided, broken down by port: 2,248,723 TEU were transshipped in Gdańsk (9.68% more), 946,769 TEU in Gdynia (8.34% more), 75,292 TEU in Szczecin and Świnoujście (11.39% more).

– Let me just remind you that since 2021, in 2022 and 2023 we have observed a decline in container transshipments in Polish ports. 2024 was a year of rebound and record transshipments, which reached over 3 million TEU. And each of the ports recorded increases in this regard - commented Arkadiusz Marchewka. - These data clearly indicate that Polish ports have done a great job, carrying out container transshipments at a record level and other transshipments at a very stable level, which is a good result for us - he assessed.

The deputy minister also referred to the investments carried out in the ports, for which over PLN 2 billion will be allocated in 2025, i.e. over 25% more than in 2023. Among the most important, he mentioned: installation and service terminals for the needs of offshore wind energy (here, apart from the construction of installation terminals in Świnoujście and Gdańsk, also the reconstruction of port entrances and breakwaters in smaller ports, where O&M bases will be located), completion of the modernisation of the quays in Szczecin to a depth of 12.5 metres, construction of a new station for transshipment of liquid fuels in Naftoport, launch of the FSRU terminal in the Gulf of Gdańsk, as well as the completion of the waterway to Elbląg, mentioned earlier by Dariusz Klimczak. However, Arkadiusz Marchewka added that a tender has been announced for the documentation of the last kilometre of the waterway to the port of Elbląg. - It will have much more favourable parameters than what our predecessors planned. The plans that we found did not meet the needs of the port in Elbląg in any way, so we decided, in agreement with the city, to create a proposal that would allow the port to accept larger vessels. We want it to be a waterway that will be 36 meters wide, so that ships up to 100 meters long will be able to enter it - said the deputy minister.