GDYNIA
A new Ferry Terminal in the Port of Gdynia as a chance to improve the way passenger and cargo traffic of the Transport Corridor North-South is handled.

Since the beginning of this year the Municipality of Gdynia has been the leading partner in the SEBTrans-Link project - "Modern Ferry Terminal in the Eastern Port of Gdynia as an important link in the Transport Corridor North-South". The project is being developed within the Baltic Sea Region Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2002/Phare, and is complementary to the SEBTrans-Link project carried out by the municipalities of South-Eastern Sweden within the INTERREG programme.

The real significance of the project should be considered in the context of Pomeranian Voivodship's chances for the development of commercial exchange, tourist traffic and economic cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region, which appear in connection with the planned construction of A-1 motorway in our country. Being an integral part of the so called VI Pan-European Transport Corridor North-South, this investment will contribute to providing a firm basis for the development of cross-border cooperation in the Region. The Swedish and Polish partners in the project will consider whether to assume a common name for this priority transport axis: Baltic Link. The port of Gdynia, where in the future there will be constructed a new ferry terminal designed to handle a growing flow of passengers and cargo, is an important link in the Corridor. The obj ective of the proj ect will be to prepare a feasibility study of this investment as well as a transport system to serve the terminal.

However the project is not only of commercial importance. The new ferry terminal is of major importance to the city of Gdynia as it is planned to be located in the immediate vicinity of the City Centre and near the historical building of the Maritime Station. This location creates an opportunity for revitalization of areas and piers situated in the vicinity of the terminal. The terminal will be designed in compliance with global trends in ferry traffic including pro-ecological railway transport which begins to play a still more important role in the structure of European traffic.

Once the transport system has been improved, there will be created favourable conditions for tourist and passenger movement from the Terminal to the City Centre.

VÄXJÖ
The demand of future 1 transport solutions and connecting links between the countries in the area of the South East Baltic Sea can not be neglected. Therefore, all the partners within the project SEBTrans-Link stands unified behind the appeal of a common, upgraded transport link from North to South of Europe called Baltic-Link. After 1 May 2004 the population around the Baltic Sea that constitutes the common market in this area, consists of some 48 million people. This expanded new market will mean an increased trade, which will generate an increase in the demand for various transport solutions to take advantage of this new situation the development of infrastructure and communication systems are crucial, both in a short and in a long-term perspective.

So far, the results within the project SEBTrans-Link shows that with a minor infrastructure measure package to a relative low investment cost it is possible to realise a fine functional transport system in southern Sweden with good transnational links to the bigger European TEN-sy stems and to the neighbouring countries around the Baltic Sea. The biggest effects are reached with measures on the railway, both regarding labour market expanding and goods transportation.

According to this, we would like: - to achieve fulfilling of EU's White Paper on Transport Policy - time to decide. A priority of the European transport policy is to develop alternatives to road transports and to relieve the transport load in congested parts of the system.

• to combine the different TEN systems in the area of the Baltic Sea where we today have missing links.
  
• to combine, in a much better way, the new member states within EU with the old ones and in a much better way take advantage of the increasing common market.
  
• to enlarge the existing labour markets in the region and by that facilitate the fulfillment of a common market in the Baltic Sea area and the whole of EU.