Poland's contribution to constructing a European net of transport corridors

11.04.2003

"Polish Market" no. 3-4, special edition

The strategy in force in the European Union, stemming from underlying principles of the Transport Infrastructure Needs Assessment (TINA), assumes that Gdansk Port will be a key link in the Trans-European Transport Corridor no. VI.

To a large extent the route of that corridor which coincides with the ancient Amber Road is, on the one hand, confirmation of the to-date historical part played by Gdansk Port in Europe's transport system and, on the other, the outcome of updated forecasts concerning the future growth of transport.

Gdansk's geographical and market situation gives evident priority to performing the role of a distribution centre addressed to the Baltic Sea region and to the countries of East-Central Europe, while simultaneously being an important link in the transport chain connecting Scandinavia with South European countries, particularly those in the Adriatic and Black Sea region.

That is how Poland has, for long, understood the position occupied by Gdansk Port among European ports, while seeing the strategy approved by the European Union concerning the shaping of cohesive transport network as a grand opportunity to consolidate this country's position and continue growth.

Those are the reasons why Corridor VI has become the background of most of Gdansk Port's activities and development projects. This is true both of ventures concerning port infrastructure and transport connections with port facilities and also of marketing ventures aimed at constructing a logistics platform which would create an attractive offer addressed to all present and future customers of Gdansk Port.

All trends existing on Europe's transportation market are taken into account, such as the sharp growth in transportation of containerised cargoes, the growth of the ro-ro transport system, the need to expand multimodal transport, also short sea shipping and the rising congestion on European roads which is increasingly stressing the reality of implementing the "from road to sea" idea.

The development of transport corridors is being treated as a condition to cope with these challenges.

An imperative element of a transport corridor is an efficient and productive transport infrastructure (road, rail, inland shipping) adapted to the requirements of the goods haulage market but also a series of organisational and commercial undertakings which would create special conditions encouraging customers with cargoes to use a transport corridor. What is required is minimisation of handling time and of onerous customs clearance procedures, frontier clearances, ensuring security, convenient insurance conditions, reducing the number of commercial and forwarding intermediaries. This requires reaching international agreement in matters of appropriate documentation and procedures.

The Port of Gdansk Authority SA, by right of its statutory scope of activities, is directly working to establish infrastructure conditions with the purpose of comprehensive management of its territory. But ports are presently competing primarily as regards quality of access to back-up facilities. To that extent harbour boards can only appear as initiators, project creators and promoters, while counting on their interests being understood and becoming the common interest of central and local governments, who will have to take the decisions to expand a generally accessible transport infrastructure.

Gdansk Port is attempting to make full use of the existing conditions. The expansion of Corridor VI will be conducive to opening new shipping links in the Baltic Sea region from the Gdansk Container Terminal and also the Westerplatte Ferry Terminal. This will be of enormous promotional significance, since customers had earlier thought of Gdansk Port mainly as a bulk-cargo port.

Existing plans and the accompanying expansion of the infrastructure linking the port directly with its hinterland are of fundamental importance. The aim is for new investments to exert a maximum influence on creating a cohesive link between Gdansk Port and the Corridor VI infrastructure, and also the whole European Union transport network.

The most important development plans presented by Poland to the High Level Group at the European Commission are contained in a document called "Priority Project in Trans-European Transport Network, Multimodal Connection North-South, Section Gdansk - PL State Border with Czech Republic and Slovakia".

This project envisages the construction of a container terminal and also a ferry terminal with total annual handling capacities of 500,000 TEU (with the possibility of increasing to 1 million TEU) as well as 50,000 trucks and 1.5 million passengers. These terminals will constitute a basic multimodal transport junction connecting the Polish land section of Corridor VI (motorway A1, railway links) with the maritime motorway to countries around the Baltic Sea.

An essential element of this project is the construction of a road of around 23 kilometres long connecting the handling terminals with the A1 motorway and also the construction of a new railway bridge over the Dead Vistula River which would ensure proper quality of connections with the Corridor VI railway network.

The outcome of implementing this project will be to ensure the creation of a large logistics centre within the port.

The construction of a tunnel under the port channel is also suggested which would, first and foremost, streamline communications between regions of the port situated on opposite sides of the channel and also remove much of port-related traffic from city streets.

Gdansk Port's marketing services are contributing directly to research of the transport market which would be affected by Corridor VI. The idea of such a corridor is being promoted among Gdansk Port's customers and also during Polish and foreign trade fairs, symposiums and conferences. Direct contacts are also being made particularly with Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian companies, to convince them to undertake joint organizational and commercial efforts which would result in the creation of an attractive offer bringing cargoes to the Corridor. An earlier such widely disseminated activity was the trial run of a container train from Odessa to Gdansk in May 2001, an experiment which displayed the many advantageous features which such a connection would bring.

Implementation of the mentioned ventures, particularly investments, is unusually expensive, which is why applications are being presented for additional finance to be allotted within European Union integration programmes. The projects related to the expansion of Corridor VI enjoy the full support of regional administration bodies and the central Polish government.

Port of Gdansk Authority SA and related institutions are convinced the arguments presented will be understood by those on whose decision the success of these plans depends. Their substantiation will bring concrete benefits in the local, national and European dimensions.

Ryszard Mazur