Poland launches 10-billion-zloty deepwater port as opposition claims 1.6 billion missing

Ground-breaking ceremony and political counterblast

On Monday 13 July in Świnoujście, Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak inaugurated construction of a technical road for the Przylądek Pomerania deepwater container terminal. The ministry called it the largest investment in the more than 75-year history of the Szczecin and Świnoujście Seaports Authority. Almost immediately, former maritime economy minister Marek Gróbarczyk of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party released Ministry of Finance correspondence that he said showed over 1.6 billion zł earmarked for the programme had been diverted elsewhere.

We are starting with the construction of a technical road. This is the physical start of this mega investment that the Polish maritime economy has been waiting for. An investment worth 10 billion złoty will change the face of the Polish maritime economy. We will be able to compete with the most important European ports because we opted for a truly bold project.

Grobarczyk countered on social media that the government had only received permission to build the technical road, not the terminal itself, and filed a notification with the Supreme Audit Office (NIK).

Scale and specifications of the new terminal

Przylądek Pomerania will be a brand-new outer port east of the LNG breakwater on reclaimed land in the Bay of Pomerania. The project will create 186 hectares of new land, almost 3 km of quay with breakwater, a 17-metre-deep port basin, and a 1.3 km quay for the deepwater container terminal. Annual handling capacity is targeted at 2 million TEU. The terminal will be able to serve three vessels simultaneously: two of 400 metres in length and one of 250 metres, accommodating the largest ocean-going container ships entering the Baltic.

The approach channel will be deepened over 70 km, and a new railway and road network will be built, including over 47 hectares of rail and road layout, two approach tracks longer than 3 km, a terminal siding, and a 2 km road link. The port is designed for dual civilian-military use and will employ zero-emission handling technologies with shore-to-ship power to curb noise and exhaust emissions. The hinterland is expected to cover Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and even Austria and Hungary.

Timeline and costs

Klimczak said the technical road will be ready in about 10 months; the terminal is slated to enter service between 2029 and 2030. The total project envelope is roughly 10 billion zł. The scope for which the Szczecin and Świnoujście Seaports Authority is directly responsible costs about 1.5 billion zł, covering the quay, basin, and land works. The remainder is state infrastructure investment.

The most important issue is integrating the new port into the railway and road network. This is indispensable to achieve the highest possible throughput and for the port to earn money and create the best conditions for business.

The missing 1.6 billion: documents from the Ministry of Finance

Grobarczyk published a letter from the Ministry of Finance dated 30 April 2026, signed under the authority of the finance minister by Undersecretary of State Jurand Drop. It states that the Świnoujście programme had faced expenditure blocks totalling nearly 355 million zł from the start and that actual spending in 2023–2025 amounted to barely 2.5 million zł.

I REVEAL! Ministry of Finance documents show that 1.6 billion zł allocated for the Container Terminal in Świnoujście has vanished! The Ministry of Infrastructure is demanding over 7 billion zł that the Tusk government does not have! Where has this money gone?

The finance ministry letter explicitly says that differences exceeding 1.6 billion zł were reallocated by the disburser to other needs of the infrastructure minister. Gróbarczyk added that the terminal has no secured financing and called the government’s launch event “fooling the Polish people”.