The main part of the Police port is located on the left bank of the Police Channel and, although it does not have direct access to the open sea, it is connected to it by a waterway running through the estuary section of the Oder, the Szczecin Lagoon, the Piastowski Channel, and the Świna. The port consists of four complementary port terminals:
• Sea Terminal
• Barge Terminal
• Mijanka Terminal
• Gunica Terminal.
This potential is complemented by a marina on the Łarpia River, predestined for the development of sailing marina functions. The Police port is the fifth largest seaport in Poland in terms of cargo handling. According to the nomenclature introduced by the Act on Seaports and Harbors, it is classified as a port of no fundamental importance to the national economy. So far, the transport function has dominated the port, carried out primarily for the needs of Zakłady Chemiczne “Police” SA (industrial port function). The port has specialized in handling bulk cargo, such as: phosphorites, apatites, ilmenite ore, potassium salt, fertilizers, ammonia, and sulfuric acid. Phosphorites at entry (about 50% of total handling) and fertilizers at exit (about 30% of total handling) dominate the volume of cargo handled. If it did not conflict with cargo handling for the Combine, handling was also carried out for other entities. The main users of the Police Port (apart from Z.Ch. “Police” SA) include Polchar (coal importer, coke producer), Kemipol (importer of aluminum hydroxide for its own needs), and the Chemical Plant in Wirowo (apatite importer). Activities for clients other than the Plant encounter problems related to the priority of servicing Z.Ch. “Police” SA. Operational activities in the port area are carried out by the Water Transport Department of Z.Ch. Police. The hinterland of the Police port is closely related to the import needs for raw materials necessary in the technological processes of the Combine and with the export directions of semi-finished products and finished goods of Z.Ch. “Police” SA.
Due to import directions, the most important for the Police port are Poland’s eastern neighbors – Russia and Belarus (potassium salt, apatites), Maghreb countries – Morocco, Tunisia, and Middle Eastern countries – Jordan and Syria (phosphorites). Imports from Norway (ilmenite, ilmenite slag) also play a significant role. The main export directions in individual groups include:
• Germany and Scandinavia – in ammonia exports
• Great Britain – in sulfuric acid and fertilizer exports
• Spain and Brazil – in fertilizer exports.
The business plan of the individual restructuring and privatization strategy of the Company adopted by Z.Ch. “Police” SA in 2004 assumed that the Police port would be managed by a separate company with the participation of the Police municipality. On September 22, 2004, the Management Board of Z.Ch. “Police” SA decided to establish a company managing the industrial port. The resolution on the creation of the company “Port Morski w Policach Sp. z o.o.” was unanimously adopted by the councilors of the Police municipality in October 2004. A condition for establishing the entity that would manage the Police port was the adoption of the company’s articles of association regulating the basic principles of its operation, which took place on November 23, 2004. The limited liability company Port Morski w Policach (later renamed Zarząd Morskiego Portu Police Sp. z o.o.) acquired legal personality after being entered into the commercial register at the Economic Department of the District Court in Szczecin on December 13, 2004. Main directions of development of the economic functions of the Police port The authors of the subject agree that all factors of the location of broadly understood economic activity of a seaport work in favor of locating various services in a seaport. Ports, as transport hubs, fulfill the conditions of a comprehensive logistical approach in a particularly favorable way – minimizing transport costs and other components of logistical costs of the process of distributing goods between production and consumption systems.
With the appropriate supplementation of the mentioned advantages of seaports and the occurrence of factors dependent on port municipalities (including the nature of local government administration and the activity and operational efficiency of its actions, applied economic incentives, properly developed road and transmission infrastructure, functioning business environment institutions), one can speak of a favorable environment for investors. The mentioned offer must be broad, as for every enterprise there is a different, characteristic combination of location factors, determining the most favorable place for economic activity for it. The transformation of the Police port from an industrial port to a universal port is associated with the diversification of existing port economic functions. The mentioned diversification will primarily concern the transport and industrial functions. The development of commercial and distribution-logistics functions in the areas of the Police port or adjacent to it should also not be excluded. An important issue is the high level of services provided, taking into account the requirements set by the port’s clients.