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PORT of GDYNIA, Poland s Busy Gateway to the Sea NOW—Port of Gdynia on the Baltic. Developed within the last ten years by the government of Poland. View shows the first inner basin used for passengers, general cargo, tobacco, sugar and refrigerated cargo strip of coastline on the Baltic, has astonished the world by suddenly emerging, in recent years, as a full-fledged maritime nation. A merchant marine is being built up, a navy is steadily expanding, Poland’s growing exports and imports are flow- ing through sea paths to a greater extent each year, steel rails spread inland. The hub of all this new life lies at Gdynia, Poland’s own bay-win- dow to the world, which has sprung up in the last decade into one of the most modern ports in Europe. Millions of dollars have been spent by the Polish government to create her gateway to the sea, and a survey of this infant of ports stamps it as one of the miracles of the century. A bare ten years ago, Gdynia was nothing but a tiny village housing 50 fishermen, isolated from the commer- cial and industrial regions of Europe. Today, a great sea wall nine miles in length extends into the Bal- tic forming a protected harbor in which the navies of the world might safely anchor, In the made-to-order city there are bustling boulevards and promenades, banks, hotels, a population of 60,000 souls, a yacht club, numerous public buildings. While the world strug- gles in the throes of an economic de- pression, Gdynia has never stopped humming with activity, and more building goes on there than any- where in Poland. Particularly active are its up-to-date port facilities— R sn 0 POLAND, with its tiny 18 portal cranes, warehouses, a floating dock, rice-husking plant, oil mill, coal transshipment equipment, all that the perfect port requires for efficient operation, Building Two Liners Having created a port of which it is justly. proud—although construc- tion on the harbor still continues in places—Poland is now directing more attention than ever toward the de- velopment of an adequate merchant fleet. To improve direct communica- tion between Gdynia and New York via Halifax, it has ordered two new erack liners for the Gdynia-America line, which the government controls. The new ships have become necessary ® THEN — What CCD ON. \O-F Gdynia looked like ten years ago., .A. fishing village of 800 inhabitants ® MARINE REVIEW—October, 1934 BY JOSEPH ELLNER to accommodate the increased traffic to Gdynia, The last word in construction, safety, appearance and comfort, the new liners will each be of about 15,- 000 gross registered tonnage. The ships will be 515 feet long, 72.6 feet wide and 37.6 feet deep. There will be gyropilots, gyroscopes, an electro- hydropneumatic steering system and such features as special garages for passengers’ motor cars. The new ves- sels, being built at the Monfalcone Shipyards at Trieste, where the Contr DI SAvotA and other famous lin- ers were built, will be run by two oil motors, suitable for BEuropean fuel, of Sulzer type, developing 12,- 000 horsepower. Two boilers operat- ed by exhaust gases will serve as a heating system, They will furnish the fastest direct. service between New York and the Baltic, Poland, Scandinavia and the vast hinterland of Central Europe as well as Russia. It will take only eight days to make the trip, while the present running time is twelve days. The first vessel will be ready for service in the summer of 1935. The port of Gdynia, entered direct- ly from the Baltic Sea, is situated on the southwestern coast of the Gulf of Danzig; its latitude is 54°32’ N and longitude 18°34’ E of Greenwich. Danzig is only 12 miles away. Gdy- nia is sheltered from the open sea by the peninsula of Hel, the extending promotory of which screens the bay from the northeast. Winds are light, waves are seldom high, and the Bal- tic is practically tideless at this point. Anchoring in the roads, which have