On Monday, the Polish Lower House (Sejm) ordered the Administration and Internal Affairs to start working on amendments to Ministry of Maritime Economy. The deputy representative applicant, Marcin Horała, underlined that the main purpose of the new project is to enhance the powers and competences of Ministry of Maritime and Inland Waterway Economy.
 
 

The new amendment has been launched on the grounds that the Minister of Maritime Economy is meant to have more power that is now deemed necessary to do his job properly. It has been added that the amendment will include three major branches of maritime economy. “it is necessary to provide the Ministry with appropriate privileges so that is allowed to perform its function on its own as far as maritime economy is concerned,” said Horała. Modifications in the Act will also include the way in which the cargo is secured, state-of-emergency situations and specifying the rules of transport of IMO (Dangerous Goods) shipments.

The reason for change is also based on Eurostat’s statistical data, according to which 3% to 5% of EU GDP is produced by the maritime sector of economy. Also, 90% of foreign trade and 43% of internal EU trade is done by sea transport.

The new Act is meant to take effect 14 days after it is announced.

As the new PiS government promised, it would create the Maritime Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Waterway Transport by separating it from Ministry of Infrastructure and Development. According to the party itself, the newly-created department is meant to help improve the work of 5 complementary elements of the same trade: the shipyard industry, national sea carriers, fishing sector, seaport policy and development of sea education.

Will the new amendment actually help the statistics and the development of maritime economy? The answer for that question will come as time passes. We honestly hope that the maritime transport will get better, and that through those changes cooperation with our company.