Diagnosis of the Gdynia s socio-economic development in 1990 - 1996

Statistical data from 1990 to 1996 show the following trends and tendencies in the city's social and economic life:

The municipality's activities, in respect to development trends, should concentrate on:

City Hall should pay particular attention to negative trends resulting from Gdynia's demographic situation, economic and political transformation processes, and global trends. Special attention should be paid to the following:

The privatisation and transformation processes of Gdynia's largest maritime enterprises resulted in their holding a good position on the market (e.g. Port Gdynia Holding S.A.). In late 90's, maritime activities still dominate the city's economy. These activities encompass nearly all sectors, beginning with shipbuilding, ship repairs, production of fittings, shipping, port services, deep sea and Baltic fishing, along with trade, rescue, education, navy, and maritime administration. About 30% of all employed are in the maritime sector of the economy. Most of them are residents of Gdynia. This dependence on the maritime sector constitutes one of the city's basic weaknesses.

Most of the land in the port area is owned by the national government. Only some is owned by the municipality. At the same time, the biggest maritime enterprises are joint stock companies with a 100 % of the shares held by the National Treasury. The following large maritime enterprises are located within the Gdynia port area: Port Gdynia Holding S.A., "Nauta" and "Radunia" ship repair yards, "Dalmor" Deep Sea Fishing, Processing and Trading Enterprise, PRO, Polish National Railways and many other medium and small, mostly private, companies serving the ships and their cargoes. The Maritime Administration, Customs Office, and other national agencies are also present.

The port of Gdynia directly borders city districts on its south and north. This is a handicap for expansive development. In comparison to Gdańsk and Szczecin, Gdynia has much less land at its disposal. But in spite of this, there still are land reserves. They are favourably located in close vicinity of the port and the city. These areas can be used for port-industry and city functions, and waterfront development. Thus in the future, on a much larger scale, it will be possible to develop mixed port-city functions, especially in the eastern part of the port. This part of the port needs restructuring. The western part of the port of Gdynia is well adapted to handling containers and logistic services, but the eastern part, handling mainly conventional general cargo, has to be modernised to meet today's and future requirements. Also bordering this part is the area called the Downtown Development Zone. With the city preparing itself for its new role as part manager of the Gdynia Port Authority , the municipality has ordered studies exploring the possibilities of locating functions other than port-industry in this zone.

Another very important function of any commercial port, is ferry connections. In Gdynia, ferries maintaining a regular daily connection to Karlskrona in Sweden, call at a provisional ferry terminal located directly by the Container Terminal. According to Swedish predictions, by the year 2010, both passenger and cargo traffic between Sweden and Poland will double. Thus plans are to build a modern ferry terminal and in Basin V a ro-ro terminal. The decision as to where to locate the terminal will have crucial influence on future land use of the port area and future needs for road infrastructure serving both the port and the city.

About 175 hectares of the port of Gdynia is occupied by shipyards. The two biggest, Stocznia Gdynia S.A. and the Naval Shipyard, have the largest land reserves at their disposal that are currently not sufficiently utilised. Technical infrastructure for shipbuilding in both of the shipyards is sufficient. There's no need to anticipate further shipbuilding uses of the areas. Therefore, these land reserves can be destined for functions other than shipbuilding.

The chaos that resulted from the diminishing fishery function is one of the main weaknesses of the city's and port's land management. There are no perspectives for the revival of this fishery function. There are ports nearby that are much more favourably located in relation to fishing grounds. Also labour costs are, and will be in the future, higher in Gdynia. As a result, over 90% of the Gdynia fishery port is now underused and undergoing major changes as to its utilisation. The Deep Sea Fishing, Processing and Trading Enterprise "Dalmor" is in charge of management of this area.

Apart from the above-mentioned functions, the port of Gdynia houses a sailing harbour, a harbour for coastal passenger ships, a pier for cruisers visiting Gdynia, school ships, and the Naval Port. Gdynia may also become a NATO base in the near future.

All these functions, apart from the Naval Port, are located in the south-east part of the port in General Zaruski Basin and in the south-west part of Basin I, lying on the premium area of Gdynia's waterfront.

Predictions indicate that one of the most quickly growing demands for the port will be sailing. The number of yachts calling at Gdynia should increase about 10% annually after the year 2000. Club ownership of yachts will diminish giving way to private ownership. This process has already started and will grow in force as the population grows richer. These transformations, accompanied by the growing number of coastal passenger vessels and super-fast ferries calling at Gdynia, shall have a major impact on future functional structure of the east port of Gdynia.