Report Polish ports in 2020. Summary and outlook for 2021 March 2021 Port Monitor. Polish ports in 2020. Summary and outlook for 2021 Summary In 2020, Polish ports (Gdańsk, Gdynia, Szczecin-Świnoujście) handled a total of nearly 104 million tons of cargo, which is a 4% decrease compared to 2019. This is the first year-to-year decline in the total turnover since 2011. Reduced turnovers were recorded by the Port of Gdańsk and the Port of Szczecin-Świnoujście, while the Port of Gdynia, despite the pandemic, ended the year with a higher result than in 2019. A large increase in the grain group (+3.7 million tons) - especially noticeable at the Port of Gdynia (+2.2 million tons). A significant decline in turnover in all analysed ports was noted in the case of two cargo groups: coal and coke (-2.9 million tonnes) and fuels (-3.4 million tonnes). Container handling in 2020 decreased (-4.3%) for the first time since 2015. The decrease was mainly due to the reduced volumes in the Port of Gdansk (-7.2%). In turn, the Port of Gdynia and the Port of Szczecin-Świnoujście recorded increases. In the containerized cargo segment the biggest drops were noticed in the first half of 2020. The drop was also recorded in the ro-ro cargo segment. The volumes of freight units decreased in each of the Polish port. In all ports ro-ro cargo turnover decline by 5.6% to the level of 779 thousand units. In turn, the service of passenger cars in ferry traffic decreased by a one fourth (to the level of 309 thousand passenger cars). Last year, due to restrictions in international passenger traffic, the number of passengers in regular ferry traffic was reduced significantly. In 2020, all Polish ports handled 1.47 million passengers, which is 23.2% less than in 2019. The negative effects of the pandemic were visible in the cruise ship service segment. Most of the shipowners cancelled the sailings and, as a result, 6 out of 84 planned cruise ship’s calls took place in the Port of Gdańsk, and in Gdynia, only one out of 50 planned. At this stage, it is difficult to forecast what the entire year 2021 may look like for port operations, because this year will also be marked by a pandemic. However, the level of the cargo handling at the beginning of the year allows for optimistic predictions. In January this year all Polish ports recorded growths in cargo volumes compared to January 2020 and these were quite significant increases (+ 13.6% Port of Gdynia, + 8.8% Port of Gdańsk and +7.7 % in Ports of Szczecin- Świnoujście). 2 Port Monitor. Polish ports in 2020. Summary and outlook for 2021 Operational results of the Polish seaports in 2020 In 2020 Polish ports handled a total of 103.8 million tonnes of cargo, which is a decline of 4% compared to 2019. The Port of Gdańsk (-7.9%) and the Ports of Szczecin-Świnoujście (-3.1%) recorded a decrease in turnovers (Table 1). In turn, in the Port of Gdynia, despite the pandemic, the result was higher than the record volume of 2019 (+ 2.9%) – the greatest dynamics was noticed in cereal volumes (+ 68%). There was also an increase in the handling of containerized cargo (+ 0.9%). Table 1. Turnover in the biggest Polish seaports in years 2015-2020 (thousands of tonnes) Change 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2020/19 Port of Gdańsk 35 914 37 289 40 614 49 032 52 154 48 038 -7.89% Port of Gdynia 18 198 19 536 21 225 23 492 23 957 24 662 2.94% Port of Szczecin-Świnoujście 23 174 24 113 25 424 28 314 32 175 31 178 -3.10% Total 77 286 80 938 87 263 100 838 108 286 103 878 -4.07% In 2020, the Port of Gdansk was the fourth force in the Baltic Sea, the Port of Szczecin-Świnoujście was on the 7th place (compared to the 8th place in 2019), and the Port of Gdynia on the 9th (promotion from the 10th position in 2019) - Figure 1. Figure 1. The cargo volumes in the largest ports in the Baltic Sea in 2019 and 2020 (thousands of tonnes) 120 000 5,0% 3,3% 2,9% 0,0% 0,0% 100 000 -1,2% -3,0% -3,1% -2,3% -5,0% 80 000 -7,9% -10,0% 60 000 -15,0% 40 000 -19,2% -20,0% 20 000 -25,0% -27,7% 0 -30,0% 2019 2020 Change 2020/2019 *estimated data based on selected cargo groups 3 Port Monitor. Polish ports in 2020. Summary and outlook for 2021 Handling structure in 2020 Last year, general cargo accounted for 51% of total cargo handled in Polish ports. The coal & coke and fuel groups had a smaller share in the overall product structure (the share of each group decreased by 2 pp compared to 2019). There was also a change in the handling of cereals in Polish ports - volumes increased by 3.7 million tonnes, which contributed to an increase in the share of cereals in the total turnover (from 5% in 2019 to 8% in 2020) - Figure 2. Figure 2. The structure of cargo handled in the main ports in Poland in 2020 10% 20% 2% 9% 8% 51% Coal and coke Ore Other bulk Grains Timber General cargo Fuels All analysed ports recorded declines in the coal and coke group - the largest decline in turnover was observed at the Port of Gdansk (-1.1 million tonnes) - Table 2. In recent years, the Port of Szczecin-Świnoujście has been characterized by high results of reloading of coal and ores. But for about 3 years, the import of ores by sea has significantly weakened due to the decline in production in Polish, Czech and Slovak ironworks. It resulted in a reduction of turnover by a one fourth in this cargo group (-588 thousand tonnes compared to 2019). In the fuel group, both the Port of Gdańsk and the Port of Gdynia recorded declines, by 21.7% and 4.3%, respectively. In turn, the Port of Szczecin-Świnoujście noticed increase in fuels handlings by 12% (of which, LNG turnover increased by 10.3%). 4 Port Monitor. Polish ports in 2020. Summary and outlook for 2021 Table 2. Handling structure in ports of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Szczecin-Świnoujście in 2020 (thousands of tonnes) Port of Szczecin- Port of Gdańsk Port of Gdynia Total Świnoujście Cargo group Change Change Change Change 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020/2019 2020/2019 2020/2019 2020/2019 Coal and 5 658.92 -16.42% 1 684.90 -41.44% 2 557.30 -18.29% 9 901.12 -22.51% coke Ore 534.17 3632.59% 0.00 +/-0% 1 684.50 -25.88% 2 218.67 -2.98% Other 4 533.65 10.25% 1 564.30 4.84% 3 139.90 -6.31% 9 237.85 3.15% bulk Grain 1 499.14 145.10% 5 430.60 68.62% 1 875.70 43.90% 8 805.44 71.45% Timber 11.93 -95.33% 101.90 -72.08% 104.00 -48.00% 217.83 -73.46% General 22 108.99 -3.42% 14 108.10 -0.29% 16 874.20 -3.64% 53 091.29 -2.68% cargo Fuels 13 691.61 -21.76% 1 772.30 -4.33% 4 941.90 12.16% 20 405.81 -14.11% Total 48 038.41 -7.89% 24 662.00 2.94% 31 177.50 -3.10% 103 877.91 -4.07% The greatest dynamics was observed in cereals group - the total turnover in this group increased by 71.5% compared to 2019. The largest increase was recorded at the Port of Gdynia (+2.2 million tonnes compared to 2019, + 68.6%). The other ports also increased – Port of Gdańsk handled almost 0.9 million tonnes more, and in the Ports of Szczecin-Świnoujście about 0.6 million tonnes more. Containers Last year, Polish ports handled over 130 thousand. TEUs less (-4.3%) than in 2019. The total result for Polish ports was mostly affected by the decline at the Port of Gdańsk. The 7.2% decrease at the Port of Gdańsk was mainly due to the drops in transhipments, while the volumes of cargo to/from the Polish market increased. At the same time, the port of Szczecin-Świnoujście recorded a double-digit increase (+14% compared to 2019). In turn, the Port of Gdynia recorded a slight (almost 1%) increase. The Port of Gdynia was one of the few ports among the Baltic largest container ports, where a positive change in the container volumes was recorded. Despite the pandemic, 2020 turned out to be particularly good for the Gdynia Container Terminal (GCT), which last year achieved a record result - 401,546 TEUs. Table 3. Container handling in the biggest Polish seaports in years 2015-2020 (TEU) Change 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2020/19 Port of Gdańsk 1 091 202 1 299 373 1 580 508 1 948 974 2 073 215 1 923 785 -7.21% Port of Gdynia 684 796 642 195 710 698 803 871 896 968 905 121 0.91% Port of Szczecin- 87 784 90 869 93 579 81 451 76 143 86 816 14.02% Świnoujście Total 1 863 782 2 032 437 2 384 785 2 834 296 3 046 326 2 915 722 -4.29% Analysing the turnovers of containerized cargo (in thousand tonnes) in Polish ports in individual months of 2020 compared to 2019, it can be indicated that particularly severe drops took place in the first half of 2020, starting in March, then the first effects of lockdown imposed in January in China (then many factories in China stopped their production) were visible in European port sector, including Polish.