641
1 INTRODUCTION
Thefollowingarticlepresentsacomparativeanalysis
of the operation of Polish ports in the Tri‐City in
comparisontoportslocatedinChina.Fiveportswill
becomparedtoeachother:namely:PortsinGdaΕ„sk
andGdyniawithportsinShenzhen,HongKongand
Tianjin. The
 traffic generators that lead to the port
areas have also been taken into account. Solutions
usedatChineseportsmayprovidenewopportunities
toimprove theoperation ofout‐of‐porttrafficinthe
Tri‐City.Port‐relateddevelopmentisatthesametime
a development for the entire city.
The introduced
infrastructural and urban changes can improve the
flowofvehiclesontheroadswhile
developingothermodesoftransport
2 THREE‐CITYPORTS
2.1 PortofGdansk
The largest seaport in Poland is located in the
southwesternpartoftheGulfofGdansk.ThePortof
Gdansk plays a
 large role in the national economy,
about43%of cargo traffic in seaports takes pla ce in
GdaΕ„sk.Thesurfaceoftheportis1091.6ha,ofwhich
412.6 ha are water, the total length of the port
infrastructureis23.9km.Accesstothewesternpartof
theport
fromtheA1motorwayleadsthroughtheS6
expressway, further along the national road 91 so‐
called.St.Adalbert.Theeasternpartoftheportcanbe
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 WisΕ‚a. The port
hasanextensivenetworkofrailwayinfra structure[8].
ThelocationofthePortofGdanskisshowninFigure
1.Theportisdividedintotwoareas:
ο€­ internalport(alongtheMartwaWisΕ‚aandtheport
channel), maximum draft 10.2 m, transhipment
capacity13.6milliont;
ο€­ external port (directly in the water areas of the
Gulf of GdaΕ„sk), maximum draft 15.0 m,
transhipmentcapacity85.5milliont[8].

Comparative Analysis of Ports Practices and Activities
in the Tri-City and China
M.Ziemska,E.PΕ‚odzik&M.Falkowska
GdyniaMaritimeUniversity,Gdynia,Poland
ABSTRACT:Thefollowingarticlepresentsa comparativeanalysisoftheoperationofPolishportsintheTri‐
CityaswellasthecharacteristicsofthemostprosperousChineseports.Thecomparisonofsuchunreasonably
different size ports aims at directing Polish ports to development opportunities in
 order to achieve trans‐
shipmentanddevelopmentgrowth.Thechange inhowcargomanagementinanarea  remotefromtheport
affectstheworkofthecityandtheportitselfmaysuggestchangesinthemanagementofthecurrentsituation.

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

Figure1.LocationofPortGdansk
Source:https://www.google.com/maps

Figure2. Map of Gdansk Port Source:
https://www.naszbaltyk.com/wszystkie‐kategorie/porty‐w‐
polsce/348‐port‐gdansk.html
Theporthas38terminalsandwharves,thelargest
ofwhichis theDCT container terminal. InFigure 2,
the locations of these terminals and wharves are
indicated.Differenttypesofcargoaretranshippedat
individual terminals, they can be divided into:
general cargo, containers, ro‐ro loads, passengers, 
coal,liquid
fuelsandotherbulkcargoes.Inaddition,
the GdaΕ„sk Shipyard area is nearby. Thanks to the
draft of up to 15 m, the port is ableto serve as the
onlylargefloatingvesselsinPoland,whichmakesit
unrivaledinthecountry.TheDCTterminalisableto
acceptvesselscontainingmorethan20,000TEU[8].
To the south of the DCT container terminal was
thePomeranianLogisticsCenter(PCL). Currently, it
is the largest logistics center in Poland. Warehouses
allow you to efficientlyreceive 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,andGdanskairport.
2.2 PortofGdynia
The port in Gdynia is the third largest seaport in
Poland.Itcovers755.4haofland,including492.6ha
of land. Gdynia Port is characterized by good
conditions
taking into account the location and the
factthatthewaterintheport,eveninwinter,doesnot
freeze[17].Figure3showsthelocationofthePortof
Gdynia.Duetothelocationoftheportfromthecity
center, its further development is difficult. The
northernpartof
theportisusedbythenavyarea.The
only direction of development leads to the
constructionofportfacilitiesonthewater.Thereisno
distributioncenterneartheport.


Figure3.LocationofPortGdynia
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,
additionallythereisaferryterminalandtheGdynia
Shipyardareaintheportarea.Permissibledraftinthe
port is 13.5 mdeep [9]The road
 can be reached by
Janka WiΕ›niewskiego St., which continues to
EugeniuszKwiatkowski,thenyoucan getto the A1
motorwayusingtheTricitybeltway,andtherailway
network is also connected to the terminals. relieves
thetrafficofheavygoodsvehiclesFigure4showsthe
locationofGdyniaPort
terminals.

Figure4.MapofGdyniaPort
Source:https://www.port.gdynia.pl/pl/port/mapa‐portu
2.3 Analysisofoff‐porttrafficgeneratorsintheareaof
PortofGdaΕ„skandPortofGdynia
ThemaintrafficgeneratorinthevicinityofthePortof
Gdansk is the traffic of heavy goods vehicles to the
port or port. A large part of the cargo must be

transporteddeepintothecountryandtheotherway
through this area. A large number of enterprises 
operatingintheportareacontributetotheincreasein
thenumberofvehiclesontheroad.Carsareanother
traffic generator. This mainly applies to employees
whohavetogettothe
workplace,butalsoresidents 
wholiveneartheport.Tothesouthoftheportisthe
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,
especiallyonthewesternpartoftheport,is
causedby
migrationinordertovisittheWesterplattepeninsula.
Thisplaceislocatedinthefurthestpartnorthofthe
643
port,asaresultpeoplemovinginthisdirectionhave
to cross the greater part of the port. An important
investmentconnectingtheeasternandwesternpartof
the port was the construction of a tunnel under the
Martwa WisΕ‚a, which was put into use in 2016. The
route
consistsoftwotunnelswithatotallengthof1.4
km.Thisallowedmovingheavyvehiclesstraightinto
thewesternpartoftheport.Thecontinuousincrease
intheamountofcargohandledintheportmeansthat
the tunnel capacity reaches the limit [8]. The
Sucharskiroute, locatedfrom
theeastern partofthe
port,allowstorelievetheroadtrafficoccurringcloser
tothecitycentertoalargeextent.Thetrucktrafficis
managed by this section, tha nks to which vehicles
haveaccesstotheexpresswayandtheA1motorway,
which are accessible (without traffic lights and
congestion).
 The port in GdaΕ„sk invests not only in
road infrastructure, but also develops railway
infrastructure inorder tousethis mode oftransport
on a larger scale. Six sidings operate actively in the
portarea.Thankstothelastinvestment,30kmofnew
tracks, 5 viaducts and bridges
as well as 42 new
turnoutswerebuilt.Asaresultofrailwayexpansion,
the number of transports transported by road has
decreased[8].Anadditionalsolutionthatrelievesthe
trafficdirectlyrelatedtothetransportareaistheuse
of transport, which connects the Naftoport terminal
with theʺPrzyjaΕΊΕ„ΚΊξˆ± pipeline.
 The advantage of this
technologyisanindependentlineinfrastructure.The
transport of cargo can take place irrespective of the
intensityoftheroadsandatmosphericconditions[2].
TraffictoportsinGdyniaisgeneratedmainlyinthe
formoffreighttransportedfromandtotheport.The
locationof
thePortofGdyniaattheNavalAcademy,
theCaptainʹsOfficeandtheMuseumofImmigration
alsoinsomewayincreasesthetrafficpresentonthe
roads.Inaddition, truck journeys inthecityleadto
theformationofcongestionintheintersectionsofthe
roadwiththerailway.Passenger
terminalsintroduce
anadditionaltypeoftrafficoutsidetheportrelatedto
thesupplyofagivenshipbeforethecruiseaswellas
thepassengersthemselves heading towards theport
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
leavingtheport[9].TheGdyniaportcomparedtothe
portinGdanskhasaworse locationconsidering the
availability of the A1 motorway.
 Gdynia is located
further north which is connected with the need to
overcometheentireTri‐Cityarea.Trucksmustshare
beltwayswithotherroadusers.
2.4 Prospectsfordevelopment
Duetothegrowingdemandfortransportintheouter
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
ensuregoodcapacityinrailtraffic,PKPPLKplansto
modernize, among others: North Port stations,
Kaszubski Ca nal, GdaΕ„sk Zaspa Towarowa station
with access to the western side of the port [8].
 The
MaritimeOfficeisplanningtoextendtheaccessibility
oftheinlandroadtoMartwaWisΕ‚a.Thisinvestment
will allow the combination of sea and inland
waterwaytransport.Someofthecargo,especiallythe
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
theportislikelytobesmall,astheinlandtransport
infrastructureinPolandiscurrentlyunderdeveloped
[8].Animportantelementoftheimprovementofthe
portʹs operation is further expansion of PCL. The
warehousecomplexisplannedon
anareaof100ha,
its location allows access to the DCT terminal in a
shorttime,andontheotherhandtotheexpressroad
[8]. In addition, the Port of Gdansk plans to
implementscalesforheavygoodsvehiclesonthearea 
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
improvethetrafficofvehicles[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
additionaltaskofthesystemisroadmonitoringand
immediate response in case of congestion (signaling
and calling appropriate services
to the pla ce of the
event) by operators. The project is constantly
developinginordertoprovidethebestpossibleroad
capacity.ThePortofGdyniaplansmanyinvestments
relatedto the developmentof portinfrastructurefor
ro‐rovesselswith access to railways and roads. The
solutiontoreducethe
trafficinthevicinityofGdyΕ„ski
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
passengertrafficisnowconnectedwiththe
truck[9].
Fig. 5 shows the planned expansion of the route
leadingtothePortofGdynia.

Figure5.PlantobuildtheRedRoadandextendthebypass
Source: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Droga‐
Czerwona‐obojetna‐dla‐Gdyni‐n124677.html
3 PORTSINCHINA
3.1 Tianjin
The port of Tianjin is currently the largest port of
northern China. It is located between the cities of
Tianjinand Beijing[21].Tianjinisaconnection with
644
180countries,offering500searoutes.In2013,over13
million TEU of containerized cargo were handled.
Daily,theportleaves anaverageof200vessels[24].It
isdividedintoNorthPort,SouthPort,EastPortand
theSouthZoneofHarborEconomicArea.NorthPort
and East Port
 are mainly focused on accepting
containerizedcargoes.Inaddition,NorthPortallows
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 locationoftheTianjin
port.

Figure6.LocationofthePortofTianjin
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 HongKong. Its location is
anideal pointfortransportinggoods betweenHong
Kong and mainland China. Shenzhen is a relatively
young city, because it was created less than half
 a
centuryago.Between1980‐2006,thecityofShenzhen
hasgrownby27%eachyear.Thecity,whichnotlong
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
dividedinto9separatepartsofferingroutesonalocal
andinternationalscale.In2013,theportappearedon
the podium (in 3rd place) in terms of capacity [14].
Figure7showsthelocationoftheportinShenzhen.

Figure7.LocationoftheportinShenzhen
Source:https://www.google.com/maps/
3.3 HongKong
IntheportofHongKong,trafficisveryfrequent,itis
oneofthemosteffectiveportsintheworld.In2018,
he served about 19.6 million TEU. The port offers
approximately 310 calls a week combining Hong
Kongwith450destinationsaroundtheworld.Hong
Kong
becameafreeportatthetimeofitstransferin
1842 to the British government. The result of this
action was the opening to the international market
alreadyinthenineteenthcentury.Overtheyears,the
port has developed on a global scale becoming the
mainportof international
trade asearlyas 1900. At
the beginning of the container  age in 1960, the
expansionoftheportwithcontainerterminalsbegan.
Currently,theportinHongKongismainlyreferred
toasacontainerport,becauseξˆ±β…”ξˆ±cargotransportedto
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.

Figure8.LocationoftheportofHongKong
Source:https://www.searates.com/maritime/china.html
3.4 Analysisofoff‐porttrafficgeneratorsintheareaof
ChinesePorts
Manyportshavefoundasolutiontobridgeoff‐port
traffic by building so‐calledʺdry portsΚΊ. Such a dry
portisapartoftheportawayfromthecoastalareas.
It is connected to the
 port, however, using, for
example,therailwaynetwork.Movementistherefore
moved to other places to simultaneously reduce the
congestionoccurringontheroadinfrastructureatthe
port.Thedistancebetweendryportsandcoastalports
isafairlydependentissue.Wedistinguishdryports
offar,mediumandshort
range.Loadsdestinedfrom
distantpartsofthecountrycaneasilybetransported
directlyfromandtotheseaport[18].Roadtransport
has been relieved in some way by rail transport.
Loads are transported to dry ports, then they are
reloadedonthe railwaysanddirectly transportedto
coastalports.
Thisallowstocompensateforthetime
lostinstandingatportgatesorroadcongestion[22].
The formation of dry ports in China has been quite
popularinrecentyears.Thefirstdryportwasbuiltin
2002 in Beijing‐Tianjin. Most of these ports carry
goodsusingrail
transport,however,equallydryports
aresupportedusinginlandtransport[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
operatedquitesuccessively[21].Someoftheseports
are located up to 400 km from Tianjin and are
connectedtotheportbyrailandroadinfrastructure
[12].Fig.9.showsthelocationofthedryportsof
the
Tianjinport.ThePortofShenzhenisconnectedbya 
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
thrivingmultimodaltransport.PingyanandPingnam
lines connect directlytotheport.Bothlines
join the
Beijing‐Guangzhou and Bejing‐Kowloon lines by
Guangzhou‐Shenzeninthelaterstage,expandingthe
areaoftransporttofurtherareasofthePRD[16].
ThecombinationofHongKongandtheRepublic
ofChinaisanimportantissueconsideringtheamount
of cargo being carried. Close road connections

betweenHKandnearbycitieswasaconvenientway
toPRD.Circulartransportwasuseduntilthenineties 
of the previous century. The development of the
Chinese economy on a large scale increased the
amountoftransportedgoods,whichatthesametime
resultedinanincreasednumberofcars
ontheroads.
However,itshouldbenoted thatHKconnections to
the central‐eastern and western parts of China are
hampered by insufficient road connections. As a
result,lorries headinginthatdirectionmustcrossthe
roundroad(throughtheeasternpart),increasingthe
durationofthejourneybyat
leastonehour.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
alternativetotruckshave become barges,whichcan
hold from 100‐150 TEU containers. This solution
bringsmanybenefits,
namelyreducingtheamountof
fuelconsumed,energyandsavingcosts.Inaddition,
itisamoreenvironmentallyfriendlyform[13].

Figure9. Location of Tianjin dry ports along with railway
linesoperatingforthisport
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Tianjin_
operations_and_logistics
4 GOODPRACTICESTHATMAYAPPLYINTHE
THREE‐CITYPORTS
The main changes that can be used by the Tri‐City
portsaretheconstructionofdryportsthroughoutthe
country. As you can see, the dry port system is the
bestwaytoleveltrafficaroundtheport.Carriage
of
goods should be carried out mainly by the railway
system and water system. Whenever possible, cargo
shouldbetransshipped onshouldersandonVistula
to dry harbors in the south of the country. The
developmentofinlandwaterwaytransportwouldbe
the most environmentally friendly alternative
transport of cargo.
Dry ports away from river areas
shouldbetransshippedontherailways.Thenumber
ofareasinthevicinityoftheportsdoesnotallowtoo
extensivepossibilitiesofreconstructionofportareas,
therefore dry ports would be the best option. The
introduction of dry ports would not have to be

limitedonlywithinthecountry.Theopeningofadry
port at Polandʹs neighbors without access to the sea
would allow the development of international
transport.Thesecountrieswouldgetindirectaccessto
the sea  in some way. Loads from a given country
would be transported to a given
dry port,
transshipped to the railroadand 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
furthertunnelsundertheMartwaWisΕ‚awouldbethe
mosteffective.
InFig. 10.Thecargoturnoveroftheselectedports
wascomparedin2016.

Figure10.CargoTurnoverperportinthe2016year
Source:OwndevelopmentonthebasisofGUS,2018
5 CONCLUSIONS
Due to the constantly growing volume of cargo
passingthroughtheportsinGdanskandGdynia,one
should constantly invest in the developmentof port
andportinfrastructure.Itisessentialthattheflowof
cargoworksefficientlyanddoesnotcausedowntime.
Inthecaseofinsufficientcapacity,
thetransportcosts
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
areplanned,you mustthinkaboutfutureplansatthe
sametime.
Itshouldbetakenintoaccountthattheexpansion,
construction or other infrastructural and
modernizationchangeswillbe associatedwithsome
kind of communication difficulties during the given
investment. Therefore, it is worth doing them in
order, for
 example, the development of inland
waterwaytransportwouldleadtoareductioninthe
amountofgoodsgoingtotrucks.Someoftheseloads
canbetransportedbyrailatthesametime.Whenthe
amountoftrucksisremoved, youcan startworking
ontheroads.Theissueof
goodplanningcanallowfor
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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