| Summary: | For the Republic of Chechoslovakia, a state without access to the sea, a natural way
to get to the Baltic Sea was the Oder and Szczecin (Stettin). Between the two World Wars
in the 20th century the country on the Wlatava (German: Moldau), in spite of receiving
its own duty-free zone in the Szczecin port and in spite of its own river barges according
to the treaty of Versailles, did not take the full advantage of the Oder route. A series of
events caused that Prague directed its trade and transit expansion towards the ports of the
North Sea, especially Hamburg, and the Mediterranean Sea.
The second world war brought about some political and economic changes in the
situation of Poland and Checkoslovakia. As a result of the territorial changes a part of
the German territories, including most of the course of the Oder, became Polish. Any
potential border conflict between the two countries was prevented by signing the treaty
of friendship and mutual assistance on March 10th, 1947, and on July 4th of the same year
– a convention of economic cooperation. An important part of the latter was the chapter
concerning the transit arrangements, thanks to which Czechoslovakia was conceded
a duty-free zone in the Szczecin port and a privileged position in the navigation on the
Oder; the convention entitled the Czechoslovakian merchant shipping to use the Polish
seaports on the same conditions the Polish ships had.
A consequence of the transit arrangements was an agreement between Czechoslovakia
and Poland concerning the lease of a part of the Szczecin port concluded on
July 15th, 1949. By virtue of that agreement Czechoslovakia received a wharf 300 metres
long and 100 metres wide for its own use. May 12th, 1948 saw the creation of the Czechoslovakian
Oder Navigation (Company) to run the navigation on the Oder River by the
Czechoslovakian barges; its headquarters were in Wrocław with a branch in Szczecin.
On the other hand, at the end of the 1940s the Czechoslovakian freight forwarding passing
through the Polish ports was monopolised by the PLC ‘Spedrapid’ in Gdynia (with
branches in Gdańsk and Szczecin); its capital and management were partly Polish and
partly Czechoslovakian.
After a few years of using its own wharf in the Szczecin port and operating the
shipping company on the Oder (both of which turned out to be extremely unprofitable)
Czechoslovakia gave them up. A new agreement between Poland and Czechoslovakia
was concluded on January 13th, 1956; it put an end to the foreign area in the port of
Szczecin and to the shipping company on the Oder. Surprisingly, the liquidation of the
two agencies did not result in a decrease of transit turnover but just the reverse: caused
its increase.
In the subsequent decades Szczecin played an important role in the Czechoslovakian
foreign trade. In 1958 Szczecin became the biggest transit port for our southern neighbour
overtaking Hamburg. The Szczecin shipowner – the Polish Steamship Company – was
one of the leading carriers in the Czechoslovakian exports and imports. Czechoslovakia
purchased products of the Polish shipyards, whence a part of its ships came. A significant
part of the officers of the Czechoslovakian Shipping Company (Československá námořní
plavba) had been prepared by the Maritime Academy in Szczecin. Yet, the attempts to
cooperate more closely undertaken in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s failed.
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