The seaport in Gdańsk joined the top ten largest seaports in Europe in 2023, taking ninth place. Having reached the seventh position in the European Union, it overtook cities such as Barcelona, Marseille, Valencia and even Amsterdam in terms of transshipment volume.
Polish seaports have been enjoying a good run for years. Many factors influence their dynamic development. In this context, it is worth mentioning the almost uninterrupted (except for a part of the pandemic period) GDP growth, in many years very high compared to other European Union member states, which translates into an increase in foreign trade turnover.
On the other hand, the seaports in Gdańsk and Świnoujście currently play a key role in securing supplies of energy raw materials – crude oil (not only for Polish but also German refineries) and natural gas, and from 2022 also hard coal. Last but not least, the seaport in Gdańsk serves as a hub for container transshipment thanks to the only deep-water container terminal in the Baltic Sea.
As a result, in 2023, transshipment in Gdańsk reached a record level of 81 million tons. This means a huge increase compared to 2022, when they amounted to „only” 68.2 million tons. The increase in transhipment in the Gdańsk seaport was also impressive in previous years – while in 2020 transshipment amounted to 48 million tons, a year later it was 53.2 million tons. Thus, last year Gdańsk was among the top European seaports, reaching ninth position in Europe and seventh in the EU.
