On 2nd February this year, in the Polish Embassy in Berlin, a meeting was held between the Polish delegation and representatives of the Nord Stream Consortium. The Polish delegation was headed by Jarosław Siergiej, Chairman of the Szczecin and Świnoujście Seaports Authority, whereas Jens Lange led the Nord Stream team.
Contrary to expectations of the Polish side the meeting was not a breakthrough. Nord Stream maintained their position that there were not reasons for burying the pipeline into the sea bottom, since its current parameters enable ships of 13.5 m in draught to call at the port of Świnoujście.
This position is strongly opposed by the Szczecin and Świnoujście Seaports Authority whose Chairman Jarosław Siergiej several times highlighted that placing the pipeline on the sea bottom at the cross roads with the main shipping routes leading to the port of Świnoujście might bring the development of the port to a halt in the future.
The position of the Szczecin and Świnoujście Seaports Authority has remained unchanged since the beginning of the Nord Stream project.
The parties agreed that expert meetings would continue and Nord Stream would provide detailed technical and technological solutions for burying the pipeline in the future. It is believed that this should enable the consortium to support their previous public pronouncements. Another meeting is going to be held late February or early March.

Wojciech Sobecki
Spokesperson