641
1 INTRODUCTION
Thefollowingarticlepresentsacomparativeanalysis
of the operation of Polish ports in the Tri‐City in
comparisontoportslocatedinChina.Fiveportswill
becomparedtoeachother:namely:PortsinGdańsk
andGdyniawithportsinShenzhen,HongKongand
Tianjin. The
traffic generators that lead to the port
areas have also been taken into account. Solutions
usedatChineseportsmayprovidenewopportunities
toimprove theoperation ofout‐of‐porttrafficinthe
Tri‐City.Port‐relateddevelopmentisatthesametime
a development for the entire city.
The introduced
infrastructural and urban changes can improve the
flowofvehiclesontheroadswhile
developingothermodesoftransport
2 THREE‐CITYPORTS
2.1 PortofGdansk
The largest seaport in Poland is located in the
southwesternpartoftheGulfofGdansk.ThePortof
Gdansk plays a
large role in the national economy,
about43%of cargo traffic in seaports takes pla ce in
Gdańsk.Thesurfaceoftheportis1091.6ha,ofwhich
412.6 ha are water, the total length of the port
infrastructureis23.9km.Accesstothewesternpartof
theport
fromtheA1motorwayleadsthroughtheS6
expressway, further along the national road 91 so‐
called.St.Adalbert.Theeasternpartoftheportcanbe
reached by the S7 expressway and then by the
national road 89. Between the two sides of the port
there is a tunnel under
the Martwa Wisła. The port
hasanextensivenetworkofrailwayinfra structure[8].
ThelocationofthePortofGdanskisshowninFigure
1.Theportisdividedintotwoareas:
internalport(alongtheMartwaWisłaandtheport
channel), maximum draft 10.2 m, transhipment
capacity13.6milliont;
external port (directly in the water areas of the
Gulf of Gdańsk), maximum draft 15.0 m,
transhipmentcapacity85.5milliont[8].
Comparative Analysis of Ports Practices and Activities
in the Tri-City and China
M.Ziemska,E.Płodzik&M.Falkowska
GdyniaMaritimeUniversity,Gdynia,Poland
ABSTRACT:Thefollowingarticlepresentsa comparativeanalysisoftheoperationofPolishportsintheTri‐
CityaswellasthecharacteristicsofthemostprosperousChineseports.Thecomparisonofsuchunreasonably
different size ports aims at directing Polish ports to development opportunities in
order to achieve trans‐
shipmentanddevelopmentgrowth.Thechange inhowcargomanagementinanarea remotefromtheport
affectstheworkofthecityandtheportitselfmaysuggestchangesinthemanagementofthecurrentsituation.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 13
Number 3
September 2019
DOI:10.12716/1001.13.03.22
642
Figure1.LocationofPortGdansk
Source:https://www.google.com/maps
Figure2. Map of Gdansk Port Source:
https://www.naszbaltyk.com/wszystkie‐kategorie/porty‐w‐
polsce/348‐port‐gdansk.html
Theporthas38terminalsandwharves,thelargest
ofwhichis theDCT container terminal. InFigure 2,
the locations of these terminals and wharves are
indicated.Differenttypesofcargoaretranshippedat
individual terminals, they can be divided into:
general cargo, containers, ro‐ro loads, passengers,
coal,liquid
fuelsandotherbulkcargoes.Inaddition,
the Gdańsk Shipyard area is nearby. Thanks to the
draft of up to 15 m, the port is ableto serve as the
onlylargefloatingvesselsinPoland,whichmakesit
unrivaledinthecountry.TheDCTterminalisableto
acceptvesselscontainingmorethan20,000TEU[8].
To the south of the DCT container terminal was
thePomeranianLogisticsCenter(PCL). Currently, it
is the largest logistics center in Poland. Warehouses
allow you to efficientlyreceive loads from a nearby
terminal, store them and send you deeper into the
country.
PCL has close connections with: the S7
expressway, then with the motorway, railway
infrastructure,andGdanskairport.
2.2 PortofGdynia
The port in Gdynia is the third largest seaport in
Poland.Itcovers755.4haofland,including492.6ha
of land. Gdynia Port is characterized by good
conditions
taking into account the location and the
factthatthewaterintheport,eveninwinter,doesnot
freeze[17].Figure3showsthelocationofthePortof
Gdynia.Duetothelocationoftheportfromthecity
center, its further development is difficult. The
northernpartof
theportisusedbythenavyarea.The
only direction of development leads to the
constructionofportfacilitiesonthewater.Thereisno
distributioncenterneartheport.
Figure3.LocationofPortGdynia
Source:https://www.google.com/maps
In the port of 10 terminals (mainly handling
container handling, but also transhipment of bulk
goods (eg grain, coal), ro‐ro and general cargo,
additionallythereisaferryterminalandtheGdynia
Shipyardareaintheportarea.Permissibledraftinthe
port is 13.5 mdeep [9]The road
can be reached by
Janka Wiśniewskiego St., which continues to
EugeniuszKwiatkowski,thenyoucan getto the A1
motorwayusingtheTricitybeltway,andtherailway
network is also connected to the terminals. relieves
thetrafficofheavygoodsvehiclesFigure4showsthe
locationofGdyniaPort
terminals.
Figure4.MapofGdyniaPort
Source:https://www.port.gdynia.pl/pl/port/mapa‐portu
2.3 Analysisofoff‐porttrafficgeneratorsintheareaof
PortofGdańskandPortofGdynia
ThemaintrafficgeneratorinthevicinityofthePortof
Gdansk is the traffic of heavy goods vehicles to the
port or port. A large part of the cargo must be
transporteddeepintothecountryandtheotherway
through this area. A large number of enterprises
operatingintheportareacontributetotheincreasein
thenumberofvehiclesontheroad.Carsareanother
traffic generator. This mainly applies to employees
whohavetogettothe
workplace,butalsoresidents
wholiveneartheport.Tothesouthoftheportisthe
city center which affects the traffic capacity in this
part of the Port of Gda nsk and prevents further
expansion. The additional traffic of passenger cars,
especiallyonthewesternpartoftheport,is
causedby
migrationinordertovisittheWesterplattepeninsula.
Thisplaceislocatedinthefurthestpartnorthofthe
643
port,asaresultpeoplemovinginthisdirectionhave
to cross the greater part of the port. An important
investmentconnectingtheeasternandwesternpartof
the port was the construction of a tunnel under the
Martwa Wisła, which was put into use in 2016. The
route
consistsoftwotunnelswithatotallengthof1.4
km.Thisallowedmovingheavyvehiclesstraightinto
thewesternpartoftheport.Thecontinuousincrease
intheamountofcargohandledintheportmeansthat
the tunnel capacity reaches the limit [8]. The
Sucharskiroute, locatedfrom
theeastern partofthe
port,allowstorelievetheroadtrafficoccurringcloser
tothecitycentertoalargeextent.Thetrucktrafficis
managed by this section, tha nks to which vehicles
haveaccesstotheexpresswayandtheA1motorway,
which are accessible (without traffic lights and
congestion).
The port in Gdańsk invests not only in
road infrastructure, but also develops railway
infrastructure inorder tousethis mode oftransport
on a larger scale. Six sidings operate actively in the
portarea.Thankstothelastinvestment,30kmofnew
tracks, 5 viaducts and bridges
as well as 42 new
turnoutswerebuilt.Asaresultofrailwayexpansion,
the number of transports transported by road has
decreased[8].Anadditionalsolutionthatrelievesthe
trafficdirectlyrelatedtothetransportareaistheuse
of transport, which connects the Naftoport terminal
with theʺPrzyjaźńʺ pipeline.
The advantage of this
technologyisanindependentlineinfrastructure.The
transport of cargo can take place irrespective of the
intensityoftheroadsandatmosphericconditions[2].
TraffictoportsinGdyniaisgeneratedmainlyinthe
formoffreighttransportedfromandtotheport.The
locationof
thePortofGdyniaattheNavalAcademy,
theCaptainʹsOfficeandtheMuseumofImmigration
alsoinsomewayincreasesthetrafficpresentonthe
roads.Inaddition, truck journeys inthecityleadto
theformationofcongestionintheintersectionsofthe
roadwiththerailway.Passenger
terminalsintroduce
anadditionaltypeoftrafficoutsidetheportrelatedto
thesupplyofagivenshipbeforethecruiseaswellas
thepassengersthemselves heading towards theport
for the upcoming voyage. In 2014, works on the
construction, reconstruction and modernization of
roads and railway infr astructure were
completed,
allowing the connection of the Port of Gdynia with
the national railway network. This allowed in some
way to reduce the number of trucks entering and
leavingtheport[9].TheGdyniaportcomparedtothe
portinGdanskhasaworse locationconsidering the
availability of the A1 motorway.
Gdynia is located
further north which is connected with the need to
overcometheentireTri‐Cityarea.Trucksmustshare
beltwayswithotherroadusers.
2.4 Prospectsfordevelopment
Duetothegrowingdemandfortransportintheouter
port and its planned expansion, the Port of Gdansk
must
focus on the expansion of road and rail
infrastructure in this part of the port. In order to
ensuregoodcapacityinrailtraffic,PKPPLKplansto
modernize, among others: North Port stations,
Kaszubski Ca nal, Gdańsk Zaspa Towarowa station
with access to the western side of the port [8].
The
MaritimeOfficeisplanningtoextendtheaccessibility
oftheinlandroadtoMartwaWisła.Thisinvestment
will allow the combination of sea and inland
waterwaytransport.Someofthecargo,especiallythe
mass one, will be able to be directed towards the
Vistula without interfering with traffic.
The ratio of
such transport to the total transhipment capacity of
theportislikelytobesmall,astheinlandtransport
infrastructureinPolandiscurrentlyunderdeveloped
[8].Animportantelementoftheimprovementofthe
portʹs operation is further expansion of PCL. The
warehousecomplexisplannedon
anareaof100ha,
its location allows access to the DCT terminal in a
shorttime,andontheotherhandtotheexpressroad
[8]. In addition, the Port of Gdansk plans to
implementscalesforheavygoodsvehiclesonthearea
of port roads. This investment will
increase road
safety. The road pavementʹs service life will also
increase, overloaded vehicles will not negatively
interfere with the road surface at such a fast pace.
Thanks to this, the time between the renovation of
road infrastructure will be extended, which will
improvethetrafficofvehicles[7].
Currently TRISTAR
system operates in the Tri‐
City, it is an intelligent traffic control system. The
system has two motion control algorithms Epics for
local control and Balance for area control. The
additionaltaskofthesystemisroadmonitoringand
immediate response in case of congestion (signaling
and calling appropriate services
to the pla ce of the
event) by operators. The project is constantly
developinginordertoprovidethebestpossibleroad
capacity.ThePortofGdyniaplansmanyinvestments
relatedto the developmentof portinfrastructurefor
ro‐rovesselswith access to railways and roads. The
solutiontoreducethe
trafficinthevicinityofGdyński
Port is the project of construction of the Red Road
leading north‐west of the port and the extension of
the Tri‐City beltway to Chylonia. This will ease the
traffic from the Kwiatkowski Estuary, where
passengertrafficisnowconnectedwiththe
truck[9].
Fig. 5 shows the planned expansion of the route
leadingtothePortofGdynia.
Figure5.PlantobuildtheRedRoadandextendthebypass
Source: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Droga‐
Czerwona‐obojetna‐dla‐Gdyni‐n124677.html
3 PORTSINCHINA
3.1 Tianjin
The port of Tianjin is currently the largest port of
northern China. It is located between the cities of
Tianjinand Beijing[21].Tianjinisaconnection with
644
180countries,offering500searoutes.In2013,over13
million TEU of containerized cargo were handled.
Daily,theportleaves anaverageof200vessels[24].It
isdividedintoNorthPort,SouthPort,EastPortand
theSouthZoneofHarborEconomicArea.NorthPort
and East Port
are mainly focused on accepting
containerizedcargoes.Inaddition,NorthPortallows
you to accept general cargo. South Port deals with
bulk cargo, while the South Zone of the Harbor
Economic Area, for example, with heavy loads or
food[21].Figure 6 shows the locationoftheTianjin
port.
Figure6.LocationofthePortofTianjin
Source:https://www.google.com/maps/
3.2 Shenzhen
The port of Shenzhen is located in Guangdong
Province, located in the Pearl River Delta region
(PRD),directly bordering HongKong. Its location is
anideal pointfortransportinggoods betweenHong
Kong and mainland China. Shenzhen is a relatively
young city, because it was created less than half
a
centuryago.Between1980‐2006,thecityofShenzhen
hasgrownby27%eachyear.Thecity,whichnotlong
ago was a fishing village, has now become a high‐
level city in terms of infrastructure, high‐tech
technology and a dynamically developing container
port. Sheznhen goes through a
total of 230
international routes [11]. The Port of Shenzhen is
dividedinto9separatepartsofferingroutesonalocal
andinternationalscale.In2013,theportappearedon
the podium (in 3rd place) in terms of capacity [14].
Figure7showsthelocationoftheportinShenzhen.
Figure7.LocationoftheportinShenzhen
Source:https://www.google.com/maps/
3.3 HongKong
IntheportofHongKong,trafficisveryfrequent,itis
oneofthemosteffectiveportsintheworld.In2018,
he served about 19.6 million TEU. The port offers
approximately 310 calls a week combining Hong
Kongwith450destinationsaroundtheworld.Hong
Kong
becameafreeportatthetimeofitstransferin
1842 to the British government. The result of this
action was the opening to the international market
alreadyinthenineteenthcentury.Overtheyears,the
port has developed on a global scale becoming the
mainportof international
trade asearlyas 1900. At
the beginning of the container age in 1960, the
expansionoftheportwithcontainerterminalsbegan.
Currently,theportinHongKongismainlyreferred
toasacontainerport,because⅔cargotransportedto
the port is containerized [19]. It has 9 container
terminals
operated by 5 different private companies
[15]. Figure 8 shows the location of the Hong Kong
port.
Figure8.LocationoftheportofHongKong
Source:https://www.searates.com/maritime/china.html
3.4 Analysisofoff‐porttrafficgeneratorsintheareaof
ChinesePorts
Manyportshavefoundasolutiontobridgeoff‐port
traffic by building so‐calledʺdry portsʺ. Such a dry
portisapartoftheportawayfromthecoastalareas.
It is connected to the
port, however, using, for
example,therailwaynetwork.Movementistherefore
moved to other places to simultaneously reduce the
congestionoccurringontheroadinfrastructureatthe
port.Thedistancebetweendryportsandcoastalports
isafairlydependentissue.Wedistinguishdryports
offar,mediumandshort
range.Loadsdestinedfrom
distantpartsofthecountrycaneasilybetransported
directlyfromandtotheseaport[18].Roadtransport
has been relieved in some way by rail transport.
Loads are transported to dry ports, then they are
reloadedonthe railwaysanddirectly transportedto
coastalports.
Thisallowstocompensateforthetime
lostinstandingatportgatesorroadcongestion[22].
The formation of dry ports in China has been quite
popularinrecentyears.Thefirstdryportwasbuiltin
2002 in Beijing‐Tianjin. Most of these ports carry
goodsusingrail
transport,however,equallydryports
aresupportedusinginlandtransport[23].
The port in Tianjin strongly exploits the
opportunities associated with dry ports. Currently,
645
they have as many as 23 of them, of which 15 are
operatedquitesuccessively[21].Someoftheseports
are located up to 400 km from Tianjin and are
connectedtotheportbyrailandroadinfrastructure
[12].Fig.9.showsthelocationofthedryportsof
the
Tianjinport.ThePortofShenzhenisconnectedbya
system of railways and highways allowing for
efficient transport of goods to the central regions of
the country. The result of this connection was a
thrivingmultimodaltransport.PingyanandPingnam
lines connect directlytotheport.Bothlines
join the
Beijing‐Guangzhou and Bejing‐Kowloon lines by
Guangzhou‐Shenzeninthelaterstage,expandingthe
areaoftransporttofurtherareasofthePRD[16].
ThecombinationofHongKongandtheRepublic
ofChinaisanimportantissueconsideringtheamount
of cargo being carried. Close road connections
betweenHKandnearbycitieswasaconvenientway
toPRD.Circulartransportwasuseduntilthenineties
of the previous century. The development of the
Chinese economy on a large scale increased the
amountoftransportedgoods,whichatthesametime
resultedinanincreasednumberofcars
ontheroads.
However,itshouldbenoted thatHKconnections to
the central‐eastern and western parts of China are
hampered by insufficient road connections. As a
result,lorries headinginthatdirectionmustcrossthe
roundroad(throughtheeasternpart),increasingthe
durationofthejourneybyat
leastonehour.Despite
the poor connection to the aforementioned part of
China by land, the location in the Pearl River Delta
allows you to overcome this route by sea. An
alternativetotruckshave become barges,whichcan
hold from 100‐150 TEU containers. This solution
bringsmanybenefits,
namelyreducingtheamountof
fuelconsumed,energyandsavingcosts.Inaddition,
itisamoreenvironmentallyfriendlyform[13].
Figure9. Location of Tianjin dry ports along with railway
linesoperatingforthisport
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Tianjin_
operations_and_logistics
4 GOODPRACTICESTHATMAYAPPLYINTHE
THREE‐CITYPORTS
The main changes that can be used by the Tri‐City
portsaretheconstructionofdryportsthroughoutthe
country. As you can see, the dry port system is the
bestwaytoleveltrafficaroundtheport.Carriage
of
goods should be carried out mainly by the railway
system and water system. Whenever possible, cargo
shouldbetransshipped onshouldersandonVistula
to dry harbors in the south of the country. The
developmentofinlandwaterwaytransportwouldbe
the most environmentally friendly alternative
transport of cargo.
Dry ports away from river areas
shouldbetransshippedontherailways.Thenumber
ofareasinthevicinityoftheportsdoesnotallowtoo
extensivepossibilitiesofreconstructionofportareas,
therefore dry ports would be the best option. The
introduction of dry ports would not have to be
limitedonlywithinthecountry.Theopeningofadry
port at Polandʹs neighbors without access to the sea
would allow the development of international
transport.Thesecountrieswouldgetindirectaccessto
the sea in some way. Loads from a given country
would be transported to a given
dry port,
transshipped to the railroadand from there directly
go to Gdynia or Port of Gdansk. The best solution
would be to carry loads by rail to 100 km from the
destination. The number of lorries on roads would
diminish dramatically, reducing congestion while
unequivocally increasing road capacity. When the
destination from the port is small, road transport is
the only option. In this case, the construction of
furthertunnelsundertheMartwaWisławouldbethe
mosteffective.
InFig. 10.Thecargoturnoveroftheselectedports
wascomparedin2016.
Figure10.CargoTurnoverperportinthe2016year
Source:OwndevelopmentonthebasisofGUS,2018
5 CONCLUSIONS
Due to the constantly growing volume of cargo
passingthroughtheportsinGdanskandGdynia,one
should constantly invest in the developmentof port
andportinfrastructure.Itisessentialthattheflowof
cargoworksefficientlyanddoesnotcausedowntime.
Inthecaseofinsufficientcapacity,
thetransportcosts
will increase and transport losses will occur. In the
Tri‐City ports over the last few years, investments
have been implemented to improve traffic in their
vicinity. In the meantime, when current port needs
646
areplanned,you mustthinkaboutfutureplansatthe
sametime.
Itshouldbetakenintoaccountthattheexpansion,
construction or other infrastructural and
modernizationchangeswillbe associatedwithsome
kind of communication difficulties during the given
investment. Therefore, it is worth doing them in
order, for
example, the development of inland
waterwaytransportwouldleadtoareductioninthe
amountofgoodsgoingtotrucks.Someoftheseloads
canbetransportedbyrailatthesametime.Whenthe
amountoftrucksisremoved, youcan startworking
ontheroads.Theissueof
goodplanningcanallowfor
maximum compensation of damages related to road
works. A holistic view on transport and the city as
well as its traffic generators can facilitate decision
making by the superior service as well as local and
international companies associated with maritime
transport.
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