It is time for the Port of Gdańsk. A call for the construction of a new railway line and bridge to Poland’s largest port
During the meeting of the Parliamentary Commission for Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation, which took place on 6 March 2025, Dorota Pyć, president of the Port of Gdańsk, appealed for the state budget to secure funds to improve rail and road access to the deep-water handling terminals located on the port island. ‘These types of investments should be considered as investments of strategic importance for Poland,’ she said.
The Port of Gdańsk is one of the top ten European ports and is also the container leader in the Baltic Sea area. More investment is needed to maintain this position.
Arkadiusz Marchewka, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure responsible for maritime economy, admitted that it is necessary to strengthen and develop the railway infrastructure in the hinterland of the Port of Gdańsk. This includes an additional railway line and a new bridge over the Martwa Wisła river.
‘We prioritise this matter. We need to unblock and strengthen the development of the railway network. It is also true that today all rail transport takes place using one bridge, and this needs to be diversified. Work is already underway at the Ministry of Infrastructure on the construction of an additional railway line and a new bridge’, he announced.
Dorota Pyć, president of the Port of Gdańsk, has repeatedly pointed out the need to build a second bridge connecting the port island. It is home to specialised deep-water terminals, responsible for more than 80% of total cargo handling. The operation of such terminals as Naftoport, Gaspol and Port Północny is crucial for our country’s energy security.
‘The state budget should allocate funds to improve the rail and road access to the deep-water Outer Port. The port island is actually only connected by one bridge. If anything happens, it will be impossible to generate the volumes currently handled. Therefore, a new rail connection, an alternative bridge connection to Stogi Island with accompanying road connections, needs to be built. The aim is to develop intermodal connections’, said President Dorota Pyć. ‘The year 2024 brought really dynamic challenges related to international instability, increased competition and energy transition. We must also be aware that the pressure from competing ports is very high, and there are also very demanding EU climate regulations that require strategic investments in the infrastructure and new technologies’.
For the 14 years between 2016 and 2030, a total of 2.6 billion PLN has been allocated to investments in the Port of Gdańsk. For comparison, in 2023 alone, twice as much, at 6.6 billion PLN, was paid to the state budget from the Port of Gdańsk.
The competition never sleeps
The President of the Port of Gdańsk pointed to the example of the Adriatic ports, which would like to enter the Central European markets more strongly by investing in port and access infrastructure, and emphasised the importance of rail.
‘Apart from competition from the southern and North Sea ports, the Adriatic ports, especially Koper, Rijeka and Trieste, are a major competitor for us. They try very hard to create a strong hinterland in Central Europe – our part of Europe – and we cannot allow them to do so. Their advantage is regular and efficient rail services connecting them with the countries in the region. The capacity of the Slovenian and Croatian railways, despite temporary infrastructure limitations due to ongoing investments, is still greater than in Poland’, she argued. ‘If we do not focus on rail, then shipowners will not want to use Polish ports because it simply will not be profitable for them. The Port of Gdańsk should focus on diversifying cargo groups and increasing volumes in the coming decades. This also applies to energy carriers. However, this cannot happen without a very good railway infrastructure.
Pact for the Security of Poland
The companies PKP PLK, GDDKiA and the Maritime Office in Gdynia presented the commission with the status of the investments, aimed at improving accessibility from the land (rail and road) and from the sea, to the ports in Gdańsk and Gdynia.
‘We have started building a protective breakwater necessary for the construction of the FSRU terminal, the LNG regasification station in the Port of Gdańsk. We have already obtained all the necessary decisions, we have a permit required by the Water Law Act, an environmental decision and a construction permit. The ferromagnetics have already been removed from the place where the breakwater is to be constructed, and the contractor has already fully prepared the construction site. We are going to sign an agreement with the contractor this month. We aim to complete this investment by the end of 2027. The first gas ship is due to arrive in Gdańsk at the end of 2027/2028’, said Anna Stelmaszyk–Świerczyńska, director of the Maritime Office in Gdynia.
Strategic investments implemented on the basis of special acts were also discussed during the meeting. The draft law on investments that are key from the point of view of state security, accelerating defence investments, is to be considered soon at a government meeting, and then will pass to the Sejm. Work on it has been going on for many months. The concept of solutions concerning ‘strategic’ and ‘key’ investments in connection with the state’s defence needs was prepared by the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of State Assets.
A team was set up in the Ministry of National Defence for the development of the ‘Report as part of the Pact for the Security of Poland – Central Pomorskie’. This pact assumes the preparation of the Central Pomorskie region as a strategic area for the rapid deployment of allied troops and their efficient distribution throughout the country. The key element of this concept is the effective use of the region’s infrastructural and defence potential to ensure realistic logistical support.
‘At the turn of May and June, we want to release a report containing recommendations on the implementation of key infrastructure projects for the national defence’, a representative of the Ministry of National Defence assured the committee.
