The Baltic Link Project

By Per-Olof Lofberg

As chairman of the Baltic-Link Association, Växjö submitted an EU application within the programme Motorways of the Sea. The application adds up to a total investment value of 1.4 million EUR. It was submitted within the EU programme TEN-T, Trans European Network, which supports infrastructure investments up to 30 percent of the total investment value.

The Baltic-Link Motorways of the Sea, Karlskrona-Gdynia application comprises a new goods terminal in Alvesta, Sweden, new ferry berth together with infrastructure investments in the Port of Karlskrona, investments in electrical power system for the Stena Line ferries and a new ferry terminal in the Port of Gdynia. Partners in the application, apart from Växjö as co-ordi-nator, are the municipalities of Alvesta and Karlskrona, Stena Line Scandinavia AB in Sweden and the Port of Gdynia in Poland.

The Baltic-Link corridor consists of the North-South transport axis through Europe from Gothenburg in Scandinavia to Katowice in southern Poland with further connections through the PAN European Corridor VI to the Adriatic Sea. In the area of the Baltic Sea the corridor consists of two TEN-T ports of category A, Karlskrona in Sweden and Gdynia in Poland. In Sweden the corridor consists of road 27 and the railway Coast-to-Coast line and in Poland the same corridor consists of the already TEN-T priority objects no 25 the A1 Motorway and no 23 the railway axis Gdañsk-Warszawa-Bratislava-Vienna.

The Baltic-Link Motorway of the Sea project will focus on improving an existing maritime link for the transportation of goods between EU member states as to reduce road congestion. The project will not exclude the combined transport of persons and goods.

Realising the Baltic-Adriatic-Link corridor or the North-South VI Transport Corridor would mean eased pressure on road capacity of the motorways in Northern Germany and reduce road congestion in central Europe.