Polish-Latvian logistics seminar
On October 23, 2019, at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Gdańsk we hosted a group of representatives of Latvian institutions and universities dealing with logistics. The meeting was hosted by dr Ernest Czermański, Head of the Maritime Economy Department of the Department of Maritime Transport and Trade. On the Latvian side the representatives of the Latvian Education Competence Center (Riga Technical College), Riga Technical University took part as well as invited experts: prof. zw. dr hab. Włodzimierz Rydzkowski and dr Maria Matusiewicz. The Faculty of Economics of the University of Gdańsk was represented at the meeting by the Vice-Dean for Science, dr hab. Przemysław Borkowski, prof. UG and dr Małgorzata Bielenia. At the beginning, the words of welcome were given by the Vice-Rector for Information Technology and Internationalization, dr hab. Aneta Oniszczuk-Jastrząbek, prof. UG, also emphasizing the wide educational offer of our university, in particular the scientific achievements of the Faculty of Economics in the field of logistics.
Four presentations were delivered in the scientific part. The first of them, entitled Logistics in Poland, was led by prof. zw. dr hab. Włodzimierz Rydzkowski, who presented the macroeconomic conditions of the logistics services market in Poland, including: development factors of the Polish economy (internal consumption driven by government social transfers, exports and private investments), elements in the development of the country's logistics infrastructure and key megatrends in the future development of the TSL market. Among them, he considered the digitization of processes and logistics as the key ones. Another speech by dr Maria Matusiewicz- Logistics in Poland. Current state and opportunities for development- was a microeconomic analysis of the Polish logistics services market. Factors necessary for effective competition on the market were discussed, among others, infrastructure, human resources, friendly legislation, ICT and innovation. The speaker drew attention to the fact that currently logistics is under pressure from changing customer requirements, a changing market and upcoming new technologies. The main factors determining the development of logistics in Poland were: very large stocks of road rolling stock, operation of a deep-water container terminal in the port of Gdansk and access to the wide track network (in Sławków). In addition, she emphasized that Poland is currently the largest beneficiary of EU funds, which are largely allocated to infrastructure investments. The speaker touched, among others, such issues as warehouse infrastructure in Poland, pointed out the leaders of the TSL market and discussed employment in logistics. She also drew attention to the problems arising from the congestion of cities. Later, she mentioned E-commerce, city stakeholders and their goals, sustainable city logistics tools. Finally, she pointed to the physical Internet as the future of logistics.
The third speech, entitled Polish maritime logistics and transport, was presented by dr Ernest Czermański. The speaker drew attention to the following elements: the future of maritime economy, Polish seaports, inland services and investments in Polish seaports until 2030. The presented data show that recent years have been a period of strong development of the Polish port and logistics services market. As for the future, the investment plans of the main Polish seaports indicate the expected continuation of this trend. This is evidenced by the total value of investments undertaken in these ports amounting to PLN 25 billion over the next 11 years. Virtually every port is currently implementing key investments - in Gdańsk the Central Port, in Gdynia - the Outer Port, and in Świnoujście - the intermodal terminal. Subsequently, the Vice-Dean for Science, dr hab. Przemysław Borkowski, a professor at the University of Gdańsk, synthetically familiarized the guests with the structure of the Faculty, scientific and didactic potential as well as the achievements in the field of international cooperation of the Faculty's employees.
The meeting ended with an interesting discussion on the possibilities of cooperation of our Department with partners from Latvia, its areas and potential goals. The guests were particularly interested in the details of the educational and non-educational offer for students, supporting their educational process and functioning in the city, as well as cooperation between universities. In addition, the participants declared their willingness to cooperate in the future in the area of transport and logistics in the Baltic Sea Region.
