Port of Gdańsk: over PLN 40 billion a year for the state budget, over 80,000 jobs
According to a report by PwC Poland, a consultancy firm, the Port of Gdańsk’s operations generate an average of over PLN 40 billion in annual tax revenue for the state budget from cargo handling. This is a figure that is not only impressive but also clearly demonstrates the immense importance of the country’s largest seaport to the Polish economy. However, the impact of the Port of Gdańsk extends far beyond cargo handling and transport, it also encompasses things like the labour market, household incomes and their contribution to public finances.
According to PwC Poland’s analysis, tax revenues from cargo handled at the Port of Gdańsk constitute a significant source of state income. In 2024 alone, these amounted to PLN 44.6 billion, representing 6.5% of the total state budget revenue. To illustrate the scale – this PLN 44.6 billion is equivalent to the funds required to build around 100,000 council flats. It also represents over 70% of the annual budget for the Family 800+ programme, which costs around PLN 63 billion.
Revenue for the public finance sector is also generated by the economic activity carried out in the Port of Gdańsk and its surrounding area. Across the whole of Poland, this amounted to approximately PLN 8.8 billion in 2024.
‘The Port of Gdańsk is an economic entity closely linked to global trade, bringing tangible benefits to the residents of Gdańsk, Pomorskie and the whole country through substantial annual contributions to the state budget. These funds are then returned to the citizens, such as in the form of public services, investments or social programmes, and at the same time prove that the development of the port infrastructure is an investment of strategic importance’, said Dorota Pyć, President of the Port of Gdańsk.
Over 83,000 jobs
The latest report prepared by PwC Poland also shows that around 16,000 people are employed at the Port of Gdańsk in entities engaged in strictly port and operational activities. The majority – over half of those employed – live in Gdańsk. Businesses operating in the port also provide jobs for residents of neighbouring counties – mainly Gdańsk and Kartuzy, but also from the neighbouring Warmińsko-Mazurskie Province.
However, the Port of Gdańsk’s actual impact on employment is significantly greater than the number of people working directly at the port. Its activities stimulate demand for other services, including transport, which in turn creates more jobs. In 2024, the Port of Gdańsk’s operations generated a total of 83,700 jobs in the entire national economy. This means that one in three jobs linked to the port’s operations is created outside its immediate vicinity. That’s not all, because as many as 5.7% of all those in employment in the Pomorskie Province are linked to the Port of Gdańsk’s operations – that is one in twenty jobs in the region.
The Port of Gdańsk’s impact on society extends beyond its own employees. It is estimated that the port’s operations secure the livelihoods of over 209,000 people in Poland – a figure reflecting the population of a large Polish city, such as Częstochowa, Radom or Toruń. Income linked to work at the port reaches nearly 70,000 households, many of which are families with children. In 2024, the total income of these households amounted to PLN 8.1 billion. This is a huge boost to consumption, which contributes to the development of trade, services as well as the local and national economy.
‘The operations of the Port of Gdańsk create jobs not only directly within the port, but indirectly across the entire region and the country. The hundreds of thousands of people who earn their living from our port demonstrate just how significantly we contribute to the functioning of local communities and the economy of Pomorskie and the rest of Poland’, said Dorota Pyć.
A key pillar in Pomorskie’s development
The PwC Poland report illustrates the port’s impact across four key areas: the labour market, value added plus GDP, public finances, and foreign trade. The study used the Leontief model, which allowed it to capture the full scale of the Port of Gdańsk’s impact on the economy by estimating both the direct and indirect effects, as well as the induced effects of economic activity. The direct effect stems from the activities of companies operating within the port. The indirect effect encompasses their suppliers, and the induced effect arises from employees’ spending, as this drives consumption and further economic growth.
‘Today, the Port of Gdańsk is much more than just a logistics hub – it is one of the pillars of the Polish economy. Its operations strengthen the stability of public finances, increase household income and stimulate the development of local communities. This is a classic example of a strong multiplier effect – a single link in the infrastructure drives employment, income and growth across many sectors of the economy’, said Paweł Oleszczuk, director in the economic analysis team at PwC Poland.
The Port of Gdańsk – often seen merely as a place for cargo handling – turns out to be one of the cornerstones of the country’s economic security.
