Socio-economic benefits of the improvement of transport accessibility to the port of Szczecin

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present the socio-economic effects which will appear in rela­tion with the realization of the large-scale investments consisting in (1) the deepening of the fairway Świnoujście-Szczecin down to 12.5 m and (2) the adjustment of the infrastructure in the port of Szczecin (deepening of the port water area and modernization and deepening of the selected berths) to handle larger seagoing vessels. Those are complementary projects and their combined realization will allow the handling of fully laden vessels with deadweight of 40 thou. tonnes (at present that is 15 thou. tonnes). The realization of the investment projects will contribute to the creation of the socio-economic benefits which will arise in: - the land section of the transportation chain running through the port of Szczecin; within the hin­terland transport there will arise savings in the land transportation costs and in the external costs resulting from the shortening of transportation distance and changes in the sectoral structure of transports (modal shift); - the sea section of the transportation chain running through the port of Szczecin; within the sea transport there will arise savings in the sea transportation costs and in the external costs result­ing from the shortening of transportation distance, and in the costs of exploitation of vessels resulting from the increase of their size (economies of seagoing vessel's size); - the port of Szczecin in the form of the increased gross value added (GVA) in the port activity, additionally created value of port services. The socio-economic analysis covered all planned complementary investments. The socio-economic effects have been identified with the use of the cost benefit analysis (CBA).

Keywords

• infrastructure development
• sea port
• socio-economic effects