Due to its central location on the European continent, Poland has very favourable road, rail and aviation links with all of the EU countries and is well placed to trade with the EU neigbours in the East. Poland’s three main sea ports, to the North of the country (on the Southern shore of the Baltic Sea): Szczecin-Świnoujście, Gdynia and Gdańsk, are connected to the world’s most important ports. All this makes Poland the ideal location for firms that are active in both the Central and Eastern European markets.

Air Transport

Poland’s largest and most important national and international airport is Warsaw’s Frederic Chopin airport (previously: Okęcie). Due to this, Warsaw has direct flight connections to 55 countries worldwide. The cities of Kraków, Gdańsk, Katowice, Poznań, Wrocław, Szczecin and Łódź, also have their own international airports. That is why most destinations in Europe can be reached within two hours.

Road Transport

In 2006 Poland’s road network had a total length of 381,000 km. It’s been estimated, that the average density of roads in Poland is 80 kilometres per 100 square kilometres of the country.

As of the first half of 2004 Poland had 665 kilometres of motorways and 257 km of express routes. Four new road transport corridors are to be developed.

NATIONAL ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME FOR THE YEARS 2011-2015
(Motorways and expressways as of June 17, 2011)

Source: GDDKiA

The  north-south route is planned to connect Gdańsk, Łódź, Kraków, Katowice and reach Cieszyn in the south on the Polish-Czech border. The second project concerns an east-west route which is to connect Warsaw, Łódź and Poznań to finnaly reach the western border with Germany. The routes will form part of the transport corridors linking the north of Europe with the south.

By 2013 there will be 2,085 km of motorways and 5,466 km of express roads in Poland.

Poland’s rail network:

Poland has one of the highest densities of rail-track in the world. The total length of the rail-trac accounts for 20,665 km.

An advantage of the national rail network are the the existing broad gauge rail connection with Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. These ensure the fast and safe transport of goods to eastern markets. The broad gauge network covers 400 kilometres of track and the route begins in Sławków, in Górny Śląsk, where Poland’s largest loading ramp is located and it carries on to Hrubieszów which lies on the EU’s border with the Ukraine.

Poland is steadily adapting its rail infrastructures for the needs if container transport. This method of transporting goods is promoted by the EU as an alternative to long distance haulage. Road-rail terminals are located at and Gliwice. There are also container terminals in  Gdańsk, Warsaw, Łódź, Sosnowiec, Krakow, Krzesławice and Wrocław.

River and Sea Transport

There are 3,640 km of inland waterways in Poland. The rivers: Odra (particularly in the vicinity of Szczecin), Vistula (particularly between Gdańsk and Warsaw), Warta and Noteć form the most important inland waterways. The most commonly transported materials are sand, gravel, coal, metal ores and fertilizers. The main ports for trade are : Gdańsk, Gdynia, Kołobrzeg, Szczecin and Świnoujście; which all are situated on Poland’s coast, the south  of the Baltic Sea.