Polish Ports Congress 2030: which direction will the ports go?

By Marek Grzybowski, Maritime Journalist Club BSSC

The first edition of the Polish Ports 2030 Congress in Sopot, organized by the publisher of the GospodarkaMorska.pl portal, is attended by over half a thousand people associated with the industry, university and govrment. The first Polish Ports 2030 Congress was officially opened by Mateusz Kowalewski, publisher and editor-in-chief of the GospodarkaMorska.pl portal. Paweł Krężel, Deputy Director of the Maritime Economy Department of the Ministry of Infrastructure, read a letter from Marek Gróbarczyk, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure.

The Ministry of Infrastructure plans to maintain the access infrastructure under the long-term program “Ensuring the maintenance of access infrastructure from the sea to sea ports and harbors until 2030”. Maritime offices are responsible for this, and the whole project is expected to cost over PLN 640 million. It should be emphasized that the issues raised during the Congress will influence the shape of the Polish, European and global maritime industry in the near future – wrote Deputy Minister Gróbarczyk in a letter to the participants of the congress.

– The seas create the most convenient and cheapest highway for cargo flows, and therefore strategic flows. The mechanism of cooperation between states, tensions, alliances, results from the rules on which these strategic flows take place – of people, goods, but also ideas, money, technology. Seaports are the main point of influence here – said Dr. Jacek Bartosiak, founder and owner of the Strategy&Future portal.

Conditions for the functioning and development of seaports in Poland. and their business and economic environment – presented by dr hab. Maciej Matczak, prof. Gdynia Maritime University.

The first discussion panel on “Polish Ports 2030 – directions of development and investment” was led by Mateusz Kowalewski. It was attended by dr Jacek Bartosiak, prof. Maciej Matczak, President of the Port of Gdynia Authority Jacek Sadaj, President of the Port of Szczecin and Świnoujście Authority Krzysztof Urbaś, President of the State Water Holding Polish Waters Krzysztof Woś, General Director of the Baltic Hub Terminal Charles Baker, Managing Director of the GCT Gdynia Terminal (Hutchison Ports Gdynia) Jan Jarmakowski and Commercial Director of the Port of Gdansk Authority Adam Kłos.

The Polish Ports 2030 Congress supported the Baltic Maritime and Space Cluster. The leading partners of the Polish Ports Congress 2030 were the members of the Cluster: Port of Gdansk Authority, Port of Gdynia Authority, ASE Technology Group, Center for New Competences, ELMECH ASE.

More: GospodarkaMorska.pl

Countries without access to the sea also benefit from the maritime economy

– It must be said that the first congressional statements narrow down the role of ports as growth poles. Ports are poles of growth and are places where national economies connect with the economies of the world – said prof. Marek Grzybowski – president of the board of the Baltic Maritime and Space Cluster to Kazimierz Netka, Editor-in_chief Pulsarowy.pl :

Fot. Kazimierz Netka.

– Our ports show that when we talk about an increase in transshipments in ports, we are talking about Polish economic relations, because thanks to economic relations and Poland’s opening to the world, such transshipments can be made and ports must develop in order to ensure, first of all, cooperation with our economy secondly, to ensure Poland’s economic security, as we can see from the situation that arose after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but equally importantly, we must pay attention to the ports as centers of economic and industrial activity and as part of the deglobalization strategy. And just around the ports and the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone, here in the Pomeranian region, there will be an opportunity to join the deglobalization strategy of both the European Union and the United States, as you can see. Let us remember that ports are not only port authorities, but also places where shipyards operate, which produce innovative ships, repair or convert ships into newer units into innovative units. Around the ports, places have also been created where energy security of our country is ensured, and new centers and areas of education are being created around the ports. From vocational education to higher and higher education. Therefore, ports should not be treated only as places of transshipment, but as places around which we build the economy and industry. This applies to both large and small ports. And just as industrial plants were built around large ports, small ports also have a chance to develop, not transshipments, but the provision of various types of logistics and maintenance services, creating jobs and ensuring the possibility of rebuilding their qualifications by fishermen, fishing crews or people who lose their jobs around the Baltic Sea. Because there are less and less fish in the Baltic Sea. So the learning process will have to change. Here, I believe that ports and cities should be viewed as one environment in which we generate additional new jobs.

If we want to further activate our activities in the field of maritime industries, we must follow the example of countries such as Norway, Sweden or Denmark, which actively support the maritime economy and the implementation of innovations, because we can only compete with the implementation of innovative solutions, and such an innovative solution is the introduction of ships under Polish flag under the second register, as is done by Norway, or running Polish ships and Polish enterprises under such economic conditions, as is done, for example, by the Maritime Cluster in Luxembourg, which is one of the stronger maritime clusters in Europe – one of the financially and financially stronger organizationally, so we have to create legal conditions, because Polish law is not keeping up with what is happening in the global and economic environment. If we want to develop the maritime economy, seaports, Polish shipping and shipyards, we must introduce such legal conditions for conducting this activity, which will be similar to the activity of companies and enterprises of the maritime economy – I emphasize – in Luxembourg. Luxembourg has more ships under the Luxembourg flag than Poland under the Polish flag – said prof. Marek Grzybowski – president of the board of the Baltic Maritime and Space Cluster.

More: Pulsarowy.pl I Kongres Polskie Porty 2030

On Thursday, June 1, further debates were held on the following topics:

– Planning, designing and construction of port and access infrastructure

– Bottlenecks – efficiency of terminals and port infrastructure

– New challenges in the supply chain – inland shipping, intermodal transport, forwarding, warehousing

In the evening, awards were presented: “Lighthouses of Maritime Economy”.

On Friday, June 2, the following topics will be discussed:

– Seaports of the 21st century – smart port and green transformation

– Contemporary threats – security of ports and sea routes, dual-use infrastructure, cybersecurity

– Offshore wind is an impulse for the development of ports and terminals

– Impact of port development on coastal cities and regions.