Main development objectives

The port of Gdynia is located on the coasts of the South Baltic Sea. Construction of the Port started in the 1920's of the 20th century and from its early beginnings, it distinguished itself as a strong and dynamic port in the Baltic Sea region. The development of the Port of Gdynia is inseparably linked to the fortunes and development of the City of Gdynia. The characteristic saying "The Port and City form one organ" by the creator of the port and city, Engineer Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, duly proves this fact.

Different companies, whose activities range from stevedoring, shipbuilding and repair works, tourist and transport service providers operate and are located within the administrative land boundaries of the port, which is about 492,7 hectares.

The entire port is administered by the Port of Gdynia Authority S.A., which has the statutory obligation to manage all port land and infrastructure. The grounds used by stevedoring and auxiliary service companies with 100% shares owned by the Port and other private ones are directly managed by the Authority. The Port is proceeding with the successive sale of shares in port-owned companies as a result of obligations imposed by Parliamentary legislation on it to restructure and privatise these companies in order to separate operations from administration duties. At the same time, strategic investment projects are being undertaken in the port.

The Port of Gdynia Authority cannot function without a strategic development plan if it wants to achieve and maintain a strong competitive position in the market. As a consequence, the General Assembly of Shareholders approved the " Port of Gdynia Strategic Development Plan to 2015" on 28th August 2003. It is an extensive document that sets strategic vision and mission of the company as well as investment targets, which the Port Authority plans to execute in the port area taking into account also co-financing from EU Structural Funds. Since the port functions in a fierce competitive environment, the strategic plan is designed to be demand-driven in its realisation. Market conditions, which enable the realisation of the strategy, were considered during the defining of priority investment targets in the plan.

The primary aim of the strategic plan is to create conditions for long-term success on the market. As a result, this plan is very elastic and will be continually revised and will adapt port to new market conditions.

The Vision Statement for the development of the Port of Gdynia:

"To maintain a sustainable strong position of the port in the Baltic Sea Region as a leading in general cargo handling particularly in containerised and ro-ro cargoes, acting on a base of wide multimodal hinterland network and numerous short sea shipping and ferry lines as well as cruise shipping. The strong position of port will result from providing adequate personal al and cargo safety and security standards, best practises in the field of environmental protection and high quality and effective port activity."

Port Authority Mission Statement:

"To create conditions that ensure long-term, stable and sustainable development of the Port of Gdynia by consistent and continuous improving, infrastructure development, supporting for best market practises as well as care of social environment goodness."

Development Priorities:

I. Planning and implementation of projects that improve accessibility to the port from its hinterland, optimal exploitation of port land, infrastructure and other resources of the port through regular maintenance, modernisation, investments and other activities in accordance with market demands and development plans of the city.
II. Maintaining a strong position as a leading Polish port in the Baltic Sea Region that functions in a safe, reliable, efficient and effective way to support our clients in the Trans- European Transport North -South Corridor. We want to maintain our position as a universal port with specialised terminals to handle unitised general cargo and provide feeder services to container, ro-ro and ferry lines visiting the port.
III. To continue with the privatisation and restructuring processes of our service companies in order to separate management activities entirely from operations as well as for growth of capital strength and competitiveness of operation sector in the port and for continuity of organisational and personal restructurisation of Port Authority.
IV. To guarantee high service quality standards in port operations at the highest international level for creation of favourable climate for investment and operations as well as for development of port labour market.

Expected directions for investment development in the Port of Gdynia:

- In the western part of the port - creation of conditions to develop new port services, such as a logistics distribution centre to provide value-added services on containerised general cargo and ferry traffic. New investment projects in the western Port will be executed in the vicinity of the existing Container and Ferry Terminal, taking into account the functional characteristics of this part of the port.
- In eastern part of the port - maintaining the current activities of the Terminals operating in the area but efforts will be made to introduce new port-related activities so as to make intensive use of the land. Conventional general cargoes, ro-ro, tropical fruits, coal, chemical products and other bulk cargoes will be mainly handled in this part of the port. Additional intention for the area is the relocation and development of a dedicated Ferry Terminal here.

The above spatial development directives will be achieved through following efforts to revitalise and invest:

- Improving of road accessibility to the port;
- Reorganisation of the rail network in the port;
- Relocation and development of a dedicated Ferry Terminal - there are two options: Basin VIII or IV;
- Development of the Ro-Ro Terminal in Basin V and its surroundings;
- Revitalisation of Basin IV through the development of specialist terminals on Indyjskie (Indian), Rotterdamskie (Rotterdam) and Polskie (Polish) Quays;
- Improving of service quality of operations in Basin III and revitalisation of facilities in its surroundings;
- Developments of the Greenfield areas near the Container Terminal (including the provision of value-added, logistics services and production activities).

Implementation of these spatial development programmes will lead to the achievement of the Port Authority's basic development goals, through:

- Ensuring an optimal spatial development planning to create conditions for port functions and co-ordination of all investment processes in the port;
- Co-ordination of development programmes between the port and city and region as well as optimal utilisation of land located within the administrative borders of the port. It is also possible for the port acquire land outside the boundaries of the port, depended on their suitability to satisfy the statutory obligations of the Port Authority;
- Ensuring proper management of port land including the provision of reserve land for the future development of the port;
- Offering attractive land for both local and foreign investors;
- Modernisation of the port area in order to minimise the negative effects of port industrial operations on the natural environment.