The Maritime Office in Słupsk returns after six years

The Maritime Office in Słupsk formally resumed operations on Monday 3 August. Its standard returned to the building on Niemcewicza street after a six-year absence. The office will administer a 170-kilometre stretch of coast from Łeba to Kołobrzeg.

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04 august 2026   |   23:58   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Michał Iwański   |   Print

fot. Ministerstwo Infrastruktury

The legal basis for the office is an order of the Minister of Infrastructure dated 29 July 2026 granting it its statute. The provisions took effect on 1 August. Infrastructure minister Dariusz Klimczak had previously signed the regulation enabling the unit to be re-established.

Deputy infrastructure minister Arkadiusz Marchewka attended the opening, together with members of parliament and local government representatives from several districts. He described the reactivation as restoring the presence of the state in a region of strategic importance.

Area of responsibility

The territorial scope of the Słupsk director covers internal maritime waters, the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, seaports and harbours, and the technical belt between longitude 17°40'30" and 15°23'00" east.

In practice that means 170 kilometres of coast and the ports of Łeba, Ustka, Darłowo and Kołobrzeg, along with Dźwirzyno, Mielno and the fishing harbours in between.

Poland's maritime administration therefore returns to a three-office structure: Szczecin, Słupsk and Gdynia.

Six years of absence

The Maritime Office in Słupsk had operated since 1954, initially as the Koszalin Maritime Office headquartered in Słupsk. It was abolished on 1 April 2020 by the then maritime economy minister Marek Gróbarczyk, who presented the move as part of a reorganisation of maritime administration. Its responsibilities were divided between Gdynia and Szczecin, with branch offices remaining in Słupsk.

At the time of liquidation the office employed around 350 people. Most transferred to the remaining offices and continue to work in harbour master's offices, boatswain stations and coastal protection districts.

The decision to restore the unit was taken in 2025. Tomasz Bobin, who directed the institution between 2010 and 2016, was appointed government plenipotentiary for its establishment.

A date postponed four times

Re-establishing the office proved a far longer process than abolishing it.

In autumn 2025 the start date was given as 1 January 2026. A draft regulation sent for interministerial consultation then indicated 1 April. In spring the Ministry of Infrastructure said operations were planned for 1 July. The office finally began work on 1 August.

The delays stemmed from legislative work on three instruments: a regulation amending the rules on the establishment of maritime offices and their territorial competence, a regulation creating the office, and an order granting it its statute.

The cost of the reactivation alone was estimated at 10 million złoty on top of funds shifted from the budgets of the Gdynia and Szczecin offices.

The staffing question

The hardest part of the return is not the legislation but the people. After the institution was dissolved in 2020, many specialists left maritime administration altogether, and recovering them will be difficult.

The new office is being built on the existing branch offices of Gdynia and Szczecin, whose staff are to be employed there. That does not resolve the problem of specialist posts which for six years were filled elsewhere, or not filled at all.

It is worth noting that in July staff at the Maritime Office in Gdynia protested over pay parity. The reactivation of a third office therefore coincides with wage tensions across the maritime administration as a whole.

An open question on offshore

The second unknown concerns competences relating to offshore wind.

In autumn 2025, when the regulations were being prepared, no decision had been taken on transferring responsibilities for offshore maritime infrastructure to the new unit. The question remains live, because the office's area covers the coast where Poland's offshore support base is taking shape.

An operations and maintenance base for the Baltica 2 offshore wind farm is under construction in Ustka, with completion planned for the fourth quarter of this year. The ports of Łeba and Ustka are also being modernised. Whether offshore infrastructure matters sit with Słupsk or remain in Gdynia will determine where developers handle part of their business.

What it means for the region

The case for restoring the office rested on bringing decisions closer to where they are implemented. The ministry argued that the distance of decision-making centres from the Słupsk area had marginalised the region, and that restoring the unit answered demands from residents of the central coast.

For the ports of central Pomerania, namely Ustka, Darłowo, Łeba and Kołobrzeg, it should mean shorter procedures and scope to adapt them to local conditions. All of these ports are currently undergoing investment, and the region is developing further in the context of offshore wind.

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Urząd Morski w Słupsku reaktywacja administracja morska Pomorze Środkowe porty Ustka Darłowo Łeba Kołobrzeg Arkadiusz Marchewka Urząd Morski likwidacja urzędu morskiego 2020

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