Between promises and delivery: Poland’s maritime economy in 2025

The year 2025 may enter the history of Poland’s maritime economy as a moment of sharp tension between two visions of the state. On the one hand, an operational state became visible — capable of taking decisions, signing contracts and implementing long-term infrastructure projects, often refining solutions prepared by previous governments. On the other, a declarative state remained present — one that readily formulates strategies, announces breakthroughs and explains why implementation must still wait.

maritime economy offshore opinions and comments politics ports shipbuilding industry defense industry commentary news

31 december 2025   |   15:44   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Kamil Kusier   |   Print

fot. Kamil Kusier / Gazeta Morska

This internal contradiction proved to be the key to understanding the year. Although 2025 was expected to mark a clear turning point in maritime policy, in practice it became a test of the state’s ability to act predictably, consistently and with long-term responsibility.

If in 2024 it was still possible to sense that “something was happening” along Poland’s coastline, 2025 exposed where investment processes truly moved forward and where narrative continued to dominate over execution.

Offshore wind and ports: where decisions were taken

The most tangible symbol of the operational state in 2025 was offshore wind energy. The transition of Baltica 2, the largest energy project in Poland’s history, into its execution phase carried significance far beyond the renewable sector itself.

With an estimated value of around €7 billion, the project ceased to be an ambitious strategic objective and became a functioning economic process. Although 2025 did not yet deliver turbines on the Baltic horizon, it brought something more decisive: signed contracts, activated financing and execution decisions that will be difficult to reverse.

Offshore wind thus became a real test of the state’s capacity to coordinate complex projects, cooperate with international partners and gradually build a domestic industrial base.

A similar, though more controversial, shift occurred in port infrastructure. In 2025 a new concept for the Świnoujście deep-sea container terminal (Cape Pomerania) was formally presented. Despite environmental disputes and international tensions, the project moved from abstract vision to procedural reality. The transition from concept to schedules and administrative processes signalled that the port sector is increasingly operating in execution mode — even if earlier political delays remain hard to justify.

At the same time, the need to expand offshore service bases and logistics hubs became clearer. While not all projects advanced beyond planning, 2025 marked the first moment they were treated as parts of a single system rather than isolated initiatives. Ustka and Łeba, where PGE and Ørsted moved from declarations to construction works, demonstrated that implementation ultimately depends on decision, not rhetoric.

The Polish Navy: a test of decisiveness

In 2025 the Polish Navy returned to focus not through political announcements, but as a real test of state effectiveness.

The Miecznik frigate programme entered the production phase and now stands as a rare example of a defence project implemented with consistency, involving domestic shipyards and benefiting from continuity across political cycles. It demonstrated that complex naval procurement can be managed effectively when decision-making is sustained.

The Ratownik programme, though far less visible, further confirmed that specialised vessels essential for maritime safety and crisis response can be ordered and delivered without political drama. Precisely for that reason, it remains a useful benchmark of institutional competence.

The most serious unresolved issue remains the Orka submarine programme. Throughout 2025 analyses, negotiations and alternative scenarios dominated the agenda, but no binding decision was reached. Political statements increasingly pointed towards a Swedish solution, yet ambiguity persists: three submarines or two? Even the announced gap-filler — HMS Södermanland — is a 37-year-old unit, only marginally younger than Poland’s sole remaining submarine, ORP Orzeł.

This is no longer a matter of funding or technology. It reflects an inability to accept long-term responsibility. Orka remains the clearest symbol of the declarative state — strategically aware, yet operationally paralysed.

Elbląg and the Vistula Spit: from symbol to function

In 2025 perceptions surrounding Elbląg and the Vistula Spit Canal began to shift. After years of political disputes and deliberate delays, the project approached a phase in which it may finally deliver operational value within Poland’s transport and port system.

What matters now is not symbolism, but functionality: navigable access, integration with land-side infrastructure and the capacity to handle larger vessels. If these conditions are met, the canal may cease to be a purely political symbol and become a working maritime asset. This would carry implications not only for regional development, but also for security, as discussions on restoring riverine and inland naval capabilities have quietly returned.

Pomerania, energy and a changing regional role

In 2025 Pomerania became a focal point for debate on the future of energy and industry. Offshore wind, hydrogen and renewable integration increasingly moved from visionary discourse to implementation planning.

The region began to be perceived not merely as a port location, but as a potential energy and industrial hub, capable of attracting investment linked to the energy transition. The maritime economy started to converge with logistics, digitalisation and new technologies, shaping a broader development narrative with a long-term horizon.

The Oder River and the persistence of the declarative state

Against this background, the situation on the Oder River stood out sharply. In 2025 inland navigation once again reached an impasse, caused by fragmented governance, lack of policy coherence and postponed decisions.

Despite repeated declarations, the Oder failed to become part of a modern transport system, while its hydrotechnical infrastructure remains in urgent need of intervention. It is a textbook example of how the absence of operational decisions allows narrative to dominate reality — particularly striking given how efficiently Germany continues to exploit its river and canal network just across the border.

A test still unresolved

The year 2025 did not bring a clear victory of the operational state over the declarative one. It did, however, demonstrate that where decisions are taken and responsibility is assumed, even the most complex maritime projects can progress.

At the same time, it revealed that the absence of resolution leads inevitably to stagnation, regardless of the number of strategies and announcements.

The real verdict will come in the years ahead. Only then will it become clear whether the processes launched in 2025 form a lasting foundation for Poland’s maritime economy — or remain yet another chapter in a long history of unfulfilled promises.

Buy us a coffee, and we’ll invest in great maritime journalism! Support Gazeta Morska and help us sail forward – click here!

gospodarka morska inwestycje offshore offshore przemysł stoczniowy przemysł zbrojeniowy

comments

---

enter content

COMMENT

nick

Add the first comment