The Impact of Sea-River Ports on Spatial Development of Cities

Sea-river ports are in most cases the final element of the network of inland waterways - usually, in a situation, where they are located at the river's mouth, the possibility of further shipping of inland vessels ends. Ships, sometimes also ocean-going vessels, may however call for many sea-river ports lying in a large distance from the mouth of rivers (eg Szczecin, Hamburg, Bremen). Due to more central position in the transport network in the region or country, seaports, situated further in the hinterland, are generally preferential. However, they face a number of technical problems connected with maintaining the availability of navigation from the sea. In the case of sea-river ports problems related to: construction, operation, maintenance and management of both seaports, inland ports and waterways are cumulated. While seagoing ships and river barges use very often the same waters and quays, using the same equipment, the land on which they are operated is in the competence of many different institutions and bodies. The functioning of the sea-river ports is also strongly correlated with the existence and development of the other cities in the hinterland, being a part of a system of river routes. Finally, the complex spatial and functional dependencies occurring between modern ports and port cities or metropolitan areas, heavily conditioned the development of both of these structures. The scope of this article is analysis of the functional and spatial relationships between them.