Freight forwarding Szczecin – transport to and from the Czech Republic

A seaport on a river

Szczecin (Stettin in German, Štětín in Czech) is not on the open sea. Ships reach it along a channel of roughly 65 km from Świnoujście on the coast, crossing the Szczecin Lagoon. The two ports are run as one complex, and the fairway between them has recently been dredged to 12.5 m, so larger vessels can now berth in the city. Świnoujście also has ferry links to southern Sweden that carry trailers and complete trucks.

Before 1945 Stettin was Berlin's nearest seaport. Berlin is still only about 150 km away, and many warehouses around Szczecin serve customers on both sides of the border.

Through Germany or along the S3

From Prague the usual route is the D8 to Dresden, the A13 to the Berlin ring and the A11 to the Pomellen – Kołbaskowo crossing, where the Polish A6 begins. That is about 520 km: load on day one, unload the next morning. The alternative is Poland's S3 expressway, which runs from the Czech border at Královec – Lubawka via Legnica, Zielona Góra and Gorzów Wielkopolski to Szczecin. For eastern Bohemia and Moravia this is often the more natural line; from Brno it is over 700 km, so plan two working days.

The route also decides which rules apply. Through Germany the Sunday truck ban and German toll matter; through Poland, Polish holiday bans and the electronic toll. All of this is included in the figure you get from our calculator.

What the region ships to Czechia

• Mineral fertilisers from Police, a chemical town just north of Szczecin on the Oder.
• Steel plate, sections and metal parts that arrived by ship.
• Paper, pulp and timber from Scandinavia, landed by ferry or vessel.
• Fish and seafood from coastal processors, moved in reefer trailers.
• Consumer goods on pallets from distribution centres serving both Berlin and Pomerania.

The port is also building up production of heavy steel structures for offshore wind farms in the Polish Baltic, and smaller yards continue ship repair. Most fertiliser grades are not dangerous goods, but some chemicals are; the safety data sheet decides, and if ADR applies we use carriers equipped for ADR transport.

Northbound: Czech goods to the ships

Building materials, glass, machinery and beverages travel from Czechia to Szczecin. Some of it continues by sea to Finland, the Baltic states or Scandinavia, or by truck onto the Świnoujście ferry. Terminals accept export cargo only in a window before departure, so we time the delivery to the vessel's cut-off rather than to a generic delivery date.

Choosing the service

Port pickups: what we need to know

The port covers islands between arms of the Oder, and each terminal has its own gate. Tell us the quay or terminal, the release number, packaging and unit weight for bagged fertiliser, and exact dimensions for steel structures (oversized pieces need a permit and escort). Terminals keep their own hours, and on Polish public holidays dispatch usually stops. Poland and Germany are both in the EU, so a CMR note and invoice or delivery note are enough; only cargo landed from outside the EU and not yet cleared needs customs first. More on Polish routes: transport to Poland.