THE ROLE OF MARITIME TRANSPORT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMY DURING THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81-00280R001300190005-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: November 1, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

 mz Roth OF MARITDQt 'II AnPOBT ZR THS DEVEGOnUW OF TEE
NA"'IOlUL )OCOROIII( DtRtIlfl T RE FIVE-TEAR PLAN
Transo,,~~~~rt, Vol VIII,
ol~ruary 1956.
Warsaw. Pages 46-49.
The.taaki.facing maritime transport in the coming Five-Year
Flan are difficult. For maritime. transport to fulfill the goals
,envisioned in. the Five-Year Plan for the entire natio.al economy
the ocean ports must increase the rate of tranaloeding and the
ship-repair yards'must reduce the. repair time on ships. At the
same time the volume of the Polish merchant fleet must grow faster
than hitherto.
A detailed analysis of these various, and sometimes very com-
plicated, tasks would exceed the scope of a single article. I shall
therefore limit my remarks to two basic problems: increasing the
speed of"trenaloading in ports and increasing the rate of increase
of merchant-fleet tonnage.
Before proceeding to a discussion of these two central prob-
lems of the Five-Year Plan for maritime transport,'a discussion of
the present status is in order.
The role of the maritime. economy in transforming Poland from
a backward agricultural land into an industrial country in'the past
decade has increased steadily. The first 10 years of postwar de-
velopment of the maritime economy,, aad"ef maritime transport in par-
ticular,`can be divided into certain definite periods.
The 'first period, which lasted more or less until 1949, was
one of intensive reconstruction of the damaged ports and of rapid
increase in the site of the merchant fleet.
In 1949 the reconstructed and expanded Polish ports, partic-
ularly Sscsecin, equaled the maximum tranaloediag of the entire pre-
 "W 60"N". Y%eq )e awww" r Goes" tar s4iealag of a decline
is %A.r %sie. r9.s a! these.aweiaye La PD1iaA parts. AifQ with
e LM-40 trap is ti.e rn. -as a: cool hondley there has Dee . a con-
ti 3.. c r:-e W ?+erst a.' small geode trenaloaded. The rapid
La" trisi.ss:tas sf tae -iatioe is visible ever more clearly in
Pause ports. gotta and Isparta or machinery and equipment are
on tae rise. t ile taere la a drop in the turnover or rev materials,
particularly coal.
The sash decline i-i total quantitative turnover in Polish
ports lasted until li>j. This decline was the result, in addition:
to ctia..ges in economic stricture, also of far-reaching changes in
the direction of our foreign trade. The attempts or imp,
circles in the heat to torpedo our foreign trade were, hoverer,
without effect. Beginning in 1953 there van another increase in
turnover, ooth quantitative and with respect to value. In the last
year of the Six-Year Plan the total level of turnover in Polish
ports reached the peak of 1944-1949, while the value of tranaloaS-
lags in 1955, due to an increase of more than 2.5-fold in the vol-
ume of small products handled, was considerably higher than the
19413-1949 quantity.
The iaoreased turnover in Polish ports in the last 3 years
was the result largely of an expansion in trade by Poland-sid,the
people's demoorecles with the countries of the For East. Regular
service was inaugurated to 1950 by the motor ship Gottwald, sail-
ing from the Warta to ports in People's China. By 1955 lively
trade was being conducted with Iodic, and a number of transactions
had been made with Burma, Ceylon, and the Vietnam People's Repub-
lic. rift increase in foreign trade made it necessary in 1955 to
w*e new permanent connections with Indonesia and Vietnam. Other
ports in Asia, such as Jakarta, Sur?ibsya, and Haiphong, have been
 added to the been ports on the Far-last line, as well as Wisner in
the Oersen Demoratic Republic.
In fulfilling the Six-Year Plan there was an increase in ton-
nage sailed on the line to South America and on the Levantine line.
This utter line has been extended to ports in the Black Sea. Net
connections are being provided by Polish ships in the Baltic.
Tramp steamers have considerably improved the utilization of capa-
city and have sharply reduced the number of ballast runs.
Poland today has a merchant fleet more than 60 percent great-
er than in 1947.. Quantitative turnover in Polish ports has in-
creased in much the same proportion, while in respect to value this
turnover has more than doubled.
The increase in the tonnage of the Polish fleet is largely
the result of deliveries by the domestic shipbuilding industry.
The aid of Soviet specialists, and deliveries of machinery and equip-
ment from the Soviet Union, made a great contribution to overcomiag
the enormous difficulties which we faced at the beginning of the
Six-Year Plan.
The great progress in utilizing the carrying capacity of our
fleet (the index of capacity utilization is now around 90 percent),
the increase in length of runs (the mean distance per voyage in-
creased during the Six-Year Planly more than 50 percent) as a re-
cult of extending our lines to the Far Bast -- all these factors
enhanced the significance of our modest fleet in the international
shipping market. The unselfishness of Polish crews working on the
Far-Eastern line was important not only economically but political-
ly as well, for the entire peace camp.
Despite these clear successes in the last 2 or 3 years, how-
ever, the rate of increase of fleet tonnage remaias quite unsatis-
factory. Approximately the sane tonnage was made available for op-
 station by the P* between 1952 and 1955 as between 1'r46 and lA 8.
In the last 2 or 3 years we have witnessed an unfavorable drop in
the Polish tluet's shore in the turnover in Polish ports, from
around 20 percent in 1952 to scarcely 17 percent of the total in
1955, the last year of the Six-Year Plan.
The disproportion among the increase in the size of the Po-
lish fleet, the development of Polish foreign-trade volume travel-
ing by sea, and the increase in transit turnover in Polish ports
is apparent from a comparison of these indexes: the size or the Po-
lish fleet increased in 1955 by 11 percent over the previous year;
Polish foreign trade and transit shipments (as measured in value)
increased by around 15 percent during this period.
The relatively sloe growth of our fleet in recent years is
having an increasingly unfavorable effect on our foreign-exchange
balance. Foreign-exchange expenditures in 1955 for shipment of our
ova goods by foreign shippers will exceed those of 1953 by more than
3.5-fold. The volume of these expenditures may be seen from the
fact that the freight fees paid to capitalist shippers could pur-
chase ships with a tonnage equaling 25-30 percent of the present
fleet. Clearly this comparison is not the same as saying that (1)
we could get along without the use of any foreign shippers and (2)
it would be easy to obtain such a large number of ships abroad.
The relatively small site of our fleet, and the numerous
shortcomings in port operation, which impede the rate of tranaload-
ing on our ships, both hanger the development of the entire economy.
During the fist half of the &ix-Year Plan the maritime ports
slowly but systematically improved the speed and quality of ship
handling. In 1954, on the other hand, when the total volume of
goods handled increased by more than 10 percent over the previous
year, there was a serious lag in ship handling. In the last year
 of the Six-Year Plan there was an improvement in port operations:
based on the first 3 quarters of the year it is estimated that the
speed of translosding was around 15 percent greater than in 1954.
In the second half of the year, however, there was another drop in
the speed of ship dispatching. It is estimated that the down-tine
of Polish ships in Polish ports in the third quarter of 1955 equaled
2.8 percent of their handling capacity, which is equivalent to
eliminating from service for the entire quarter one ship like the
Levant.
The causes of this unsatisfactory progress in the speed of
servicing ships in our ports are various. There is no doubt, how-
ever, that a great deal can still be done by improving the organi-
zation of labor. Special attention should be directed toward the
proper utilization of mechanized equipment, and the necessity of
stabilizing the cadres of port workers.
In order to eliminate the great turnover in port workers,
which has dropped only slightly since 1954, closer attention must
be directed toward the conditions of labor safety and hygiene, to
creating better conditions in the workers' dormitories, etc. The
Ministry of Shipping must intervene energetically in the decision-
making by the PKPO and the Office of the Council of Ministers in
matters of introducing longevity bonuses, increasing social-welfare
benefits, etc. Another decisive factor which may promote the li-
quidation of the great manpower turnover during the Five-Year Plan
is increased investments for housing construction.
The transport capacity of the merchant fleet is sal cut
sharply by excessively long class and annual repairs. The maritime
ship-repair yards are, to be sure, improving the efficiency of their
operations each year. In 1955 the repair time in general followed
 the tstablish.d harmooop-aw. During the first three o+srtaee
1955 the largest instal;.stioo -- the Gdansk Ropelr ihtpror+t -a si.
talented the completion of repairs by ea ssnuat *%.t to .) m
days. Despite that achievements of tae Ship-r.;rstr yersa w
average time required for class and annual repairs to witt# iti
such too long in comparison with tae tlsee req.1res .% :.t..m
shipyards. Tor ea.Wle in lY? tam class repair at s mme%_sw+t w.:?
took on average of 133 days. Annual taspecttra sort r.poin c,..
sums much too such operstSnd tills.
A reduction during the Tin-Tear Pian :. tate t i? ne4 s
for aanwl and class Ship repairs eq.hai .a l;?$. percwt va-....r .
equivalent to making available for operation ,, tr.+ , tnt ,was a!
the Five-Tear Plan 15, ~w-i ,qtr dm of ton-sags, it twee Is ts.o
ships like the taveat.
Up , f k.rthermore all reserves very re.ss het sse ? .. rw+
commas ove:?oo.e la the opens t ion of the rip - reps t a 10044. Afte'La
and the PiS this vo,hld se egatvsisot to toarwat'e t:. is as us.
nags of our fleft by a aialahs at more %hsa t... -' ivt. M a sts..a
seven medium-ailed Nips. On the other "ad tats in. t.a .,a,r? wt..
,mve to be retired from service d..rtng the Fare-Veer -:as ?. aw w
tae prelialaa') oonsideretioas tad:s?te. This rprees.,ta ._: s.
ptng whose coat of repels 1s no 1004W vorta tweet t-,s-
TS P"1 1" _ sry eons tder? t ions as tM F1 -*-your F .A. :..? s ..
wilts torte shore that a nlstively salt -- se. Oro." rsr
seat -- tucre&" is total turnover vii4 es4ae a same.. ashari.
is atr.uturv of ttis do ds usuit a by tae ports.
lt.e pre l tat nary sae moot :,&rt^mnt as tsa1at tote tar tae t t ?.
year 11au euvtsion ? states crap -- p..sl to around ere y.r:sa: .
13 tTsai1426i1 48 Of ..041, seat 6000W1.at :srpr ir)yi :4 U.s w. ..w.
 of timber and grain handled. This is the result, in the former
case, of a drop in planned exports, and in the latter of irporta.
It is planned, on the other hand, that there will be sharp increases
in the volume of small goods handled (35 percent), and ore (20-25
pvrcent). At the same ti,x transloadings of "other eras goods" are
to increase by more than 30 percent; this group includes parttcu-
larly transloadings of synthetic fertilizers for agriculture. This
change in the structure of mess commerce means that the value of
trensloadings, in fixed prices, corresponding approximately to la-
bor content, will increase by almost 22 percent during the Five-Year
Plan.
In view of the achievements of the Six-Year Plan and of the
planned changes in the structure of mass goods handled between 1956
and 1960 it appears desirable to envision further specialization of
the ports. In particular s, considerably greater share of small goods
must be tramaloaded in Gdynia, and of coal and ore in Szczecin. In
addition in Szczecin a solution waist be found for the excessive
waiting to which inland-shipping barges are auojected when loading
and unloading, and all possible means muse. be employed to increase
the use of conveyor belts.
The Five-Year Plan for the maritime ports states that be-
tween 1956 and 1960 ship-dispatching time must be reduced much fur-
ther. The coefficient of ship-service efficiency (the relationship
of time used in transloadixtg to the time permitted),, which is 1955
was around 63 percent, should not exceed 55 percent in the lost
year of the Five-Year Plan.
The time required to tranaload 1,000 tons of goods onto a
ship, by individual groups of goods, should drop as follows during
the Five-Year Plan: Coal, 17 percent; ore, 20 percent; other was
 goods, 35 percent.
The. large acceleration in transloading envisioned in the
plan requires an increase in the number of floating cranes and
mechanized equipment, in addition'to improvements in the organiza-
tion of work, and particularly cooperation with foreign trade.
Improvements. in the organization of labor, reductions in men-
power turnover with the resulting increase in the qualifications of
port workers, more intensive mechanization of labor, and improve-
ments in trensloedirg technology -- all of these will lay the ne-
cessary foundatio. for further rises in labor productivity in Po-
lash ports. It is planned that labor productivity per transloading
worker, calculated in fixed prices, will rise by more than 26 per-
cent during the Five-Year Plan.
In view of the limits on investment during the Five-Year
Plan for the construction of new port warehouses a far-reaching im-
provement must occur between 1956 and 1960 in the utilization of
warehouses. We must not repeat the situation which occurred in
1955, wherein the average warehousing time in Polish ports vas 2.5
days longer than established in the plan. In the last year of the
F.ve-Year Ilan the surface loading of warehouses, in tons per square
meter, in Folish ports must be more than 23 percent greater than in
1955, while the average warehousing time must drop by almost 2 days,
;.e., by more than 7 percent.
The ?reliminary considerations on the Five-Year Plan envis-
ion a large (around 35 Percent) increase in transit turnover. 11,Sa
vti req a a large improvement in the operating efficiency of the
pa, is and :..ie QT. 2.'e decision to create in each port a special
cr: _e -- :he trans-t clerk, whose job will be to regulate dell)
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ratters, settle disputes eapng port contractors, and provide for
mass transit -- should help the ports to increase the efficiency of
transit turnover.
Withbr3t attempting to exhaust all the problems facing the
ports in the coming Five-Year Plan it should be. emphasized vigorous-
ly that the achievement by the ports of the planned acceleration of
transloadings is one of. the main factors determining whether our
small merchant fleet will fulfill the plan, which calls for an in-
crease c.P more than 43 percent in services.
The tasks facing the Polish merchant fleet in the coming Five-
Year Plan, in the light of recent trends in Polish foreign trade,
when compared with the present international situation, are partic-
ularly diff!cult.
The visit of the USSR leaders to India and.Burme, the com-
mercial agreements recently concluded by Poland with India, Ceylon,
and Burma', all of this shows that in 1956, as in later years, trade
between the nationi of the peace camp in Europe and the countries
of Asia will develop uninterruptedly.
in the mass cf goods -- both Polish foreign trade and transit
goods -- a ."ie South-American-line. Despite an increase in ship-
meats by Po 'h ships on this line equal to more than 150 percent,
cilities. A considerable proportion of these shipments traveled on
foreign lines which sometimes had ouch more modern equipment than
our fleet. Current plans make it possible to say that increases in
our trade,=aid that of the people's dsmoarecies using Polish ports,
with South America. will continue in the future.
At present only around 40 percent of the total trade passing
through Polish ports is handled by Polish facilities. There can be
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?,ar ii S Laf- `..-ws t,:. Imni,+ /wr`aas t aC %A.e Isis.
Sot t ar.Iap . tease &.%* err i l3.an %s*se fl
to rli.S . %am*" I.a +w, sags I.a*.a .aw,? - M%4a vrllean t.ae
'....er'~p. ?.
I' tam M tma ? tar floor It waald be to a bettor posi-
t lAit. w risen Its test 1 I ttao Y tat rust. n of the sag at @*ads
an t Ail. + i t r t ! t 9M . i'a t? wall In tan Proooto t -.crossed moose,
v l to .iw to l raa reea l as .as van prupolrt lonel 4. mat is core Ia-
porte:st a larger fleet vo.L4 ss.ae It possible to taus Cr. affec-
ttw araeare tallara red.a4ta,4 the lretght rates charged by foreign
shippers or Pollan caress.
-na prelietiieary oonatderstiona in the Yin-Year Plan envision
4?liverla of amps true doe itto anipysraa and foreig purchases
sash tart by the scud of the Pin-Year Plan 10-it percent or tor-
etps trade and transit shipments "sing parities facilities will
oe
serviced by the Pollan fleet. It to thus apparent that a oonaid-
arable proportion or the roods Involved In Polish trade viii con-
tlaue to be harried by snips sailing wader other flags. In this
aomneutton It also booos?s probtaw,?tical whether the ,finned runner
to reeti n Pollan handttag o. trade will be realised.
to cane natt3aal *Oononq able to provide for a wore rap.a .,-
.:races It Ina as. of ti.a fleet In anler to unit fosatgn-ate a,a, ,a
 expeodituras paid to foreign shippers for handling polish 4oodst
A positive snswr to this question is of course debatable. A more
rapid increase in the tonnage of the Polish merchant fleet can coos
about either through further increases in output by the domestic
shipbuilding industry or through increased purchases of foreign
ships.
During the Five Year Plan the domestic shipbuilding industry
will undertake the production of complex new tankers of 18,000 dirt
capacity, large mother ships for the fishing industry, and will
greatly expand the serial production of merchant and fishing ships
produced during the Six-Year Plan.
It is difficult to expect the shipbuilding industry to under-
takes further serious goals which might contribute substantially to
further increasing the size of the Polish fleet in comparison with
the preliminary, current considerations of the Five-Year Plan.
The role played by this production in deliveries for domes-
tic shipping and export cannot be questioned on fundamental grounds.
A reduction in exports of ships, which are purchased primarily by
the USSR, would mean cutting imports of investment equipment, basic
raw materials such as cotton and ores, and complex machinery for
heavy industry. And at the same time metallurgy, machine-building
and, in the near future, the atomic industry, which will begin in
Poland in the next few months based on supplies from the Soviet Union
-- theme industries are the basis for development of the shipbuild-
ing indutry.
It seems possible, on the other hand, considerably to in-
crease purchases of ships abroad, or to order them in western-Euro-
pean shipyards. A second-hand ship of 10,000 tons dirt purchased
abroad will earn in 1.5 to 2 years enough foreign exchange to pay
 its purchase price. A now ship orderers in foreign shipyards is,
obviously, more expensive and will have to be amortized over a
longer period; but it will remain in use for a correspondingly
longer period. Increased purchases or orders for new units from
foreign shipyards, however, will be possible only if there is a
further increase in exports, or a limitation on imports of those
articles which do not play a decisive role in the development and
industrialization of our country. It appears that our national
economy is able to increase exports. Similarly certain temporary
limitations on the importation of certain goods (such as luxury
goods like French vines, Holland gins, etc), taking o long view of
the matter, need not be considered as impeding the rise in living
standards.
In analyzing possibilities of increasing exports, specifi-
cally in the maritime economy, one may consider the fishing indus-
try and the river shipbuilding industry.
It would appear that exports might be activated by the fish
industry through increasing exports of canned fish, specifically of
anchovies in oil. Preliminary calculations made by the Central Ad-
ministration of the Fishing Industry show that in order to obtain
one dollar from the sale of canned anchovies ve must import rev ma-
terials costing around 50 cents. According to recent analysis of
importing markets the sale of this product is essentially unlimi-
ted. The decision to inport frozen anchovies in order that they
may be processed and upgraded by the Polish canning industry, in
addition to providing for increases in foreign-exchange balances,
will simultaneously sa+oath out the seasonal work cycle in certain
plants and, consequently, improve the utilization of anchovies acid
other fish caught by Polish boats.
 One of the largest plants in the canning industry would then
be independent of the large and unavoidable fluctuations in the
fish catch.
In view of the intensive development of the Polish fishing
industry, whose catch in 1955 exceeded by 30,000-40,000 tons the
total prewar Polish catch plus imports; and in view of the planned
increase in the fish catch envisioned in the Five-Year Plan, it may
be useful for the economy to begin the export on a larger scale of
other fish products in the near future.
It might also be possible to promote exports of river float-
ing stock. This becomes a more realistic suggestion when one con-
siders that a large and rapid increase in deliveries of tugboats
and barges for domestic inland shipping will probably not be econ-
omically justified, in vin of plans to expand the water routes in
Poland during the Five-Year Plan and the relatively high unit cost
of inland shipping in comparison with railroad transport.
It may be assumed that throughout the economy there are nu-
merous such opportunities for increasing exports. Before the final
compilation of goals for the Five-Year Plan, therefore, all these
possibilities for promoting exports should be analyzed from all
sides, keeping in mind the need to find means of increasing the
purchase of ships abroad. The opportunities which look realistic
should then be included in the Five-Year Plan.
One may conclude that the careful studies made in those in-
dustries which produce goods for export and in the foreign-trade
offices should Iced to the discovery of means of accelerating the
expansion of the Polish fleet without the need to hamper the de-
velopment of the key branches of the economy.
In order to emphasise the need for exerting the maxim, ef-
fort to expand the Polish fleet it should;be noted that a number of
 countries have in recent yews coosidarabli expose" ibtir f taco
The German Federal Republic, for example, wbiai in LY)6 pesremosam
a fleet of 140,000 dvt, now has a fleet totaling ailliaae e[ s?va.
In the poetvard decade Sweden has increase* the site at ita r,40-.
by 1,830,003 dvt, and Denmark by more than 1,3!.,'.?~ iwt. f.sat
has exerted considerable effort during this period is & s noes, .s :ts
fleet 3-fold. But in absolute figures this inctesas, ea.
ceeds 200,000 dvt, is not satisfactory.
There has recently been a certain iausLa ::e . ttre *ens.ar
went of our fleet in comparison vith t n* ,irovv, of fareip %fef
which must travel on the ocear.. This 41fficult) :a be el:.aL+rtsm
only by the concer.trated efforts of the entire nattcuel e04Caf.
the entire nation. The failure to make slcl. a-% often wt;. is tar
future have a still more negative effect c.n ou f 9r+t~s-srssa~sy
balances it will have a greater inhibiting effect >a u'. me e1
development of the entire economy of People's Pots-A.
If this effort is mode in the first ,islt )f t!.* Fiesta ,
Plan it will have a double effect on the national raoeaej viu.ia s
to 3 years. The resulting savinss can oe uawi notr, r w tae l-s ?
they development of the productive forces of Polsad amt for sss?
ing the living standards of the satire Polish eitissltj.