Shipwrecks have been disfiguring Szczecin for years. But no one can do anything about it

Ashley Davis11/11/2025

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Anyone walking along Szczecin's boulevards – the representative part of the city – will certainly notice these two ships, or rather the wrecks of two ships. The inhabitants of Szczecin have actually become accustomed to them – the “Daria” and “Konrad” ships have been there since 2020, or maybe they were there even earlier. “Konrad” is an icebreaker and tugboat, while “Daria” was once a cruise ship.

The situation is obviously not normal. Wrecks block valuable space on the boulevards, the owner does not pay for mooring – and the ships are dangerous. Just at the end of October, a fire broke out on one of them.

Why are the ships still standing?

It is not entirely clear why the owner of the wrecks does not pay or respond to calls for their removal. It is difficult to contact him at all. Business Insider Polska tried to do this. The company unofficially listed as the ship's owner remains active — but it has no current website and no contact information can be obtained. We weren't the only ones who had this problem.

— The ships have not been towed so far due to the shipowner's failure to comply with the issued decisions, and the applicable legal provisions do not give such rights to the shipping administration authorities – says Artur Chróściak from the Inland Navigation Office in Szczecin in an interview with Business Insider Polska.

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Does this mean that the ships will remain there forever? Artur Chróściak is convinced that not. — The director of the Inland Navigation Office in Szczecin applied to the West Pomeranian Voivode to initiate enforcement proceedings, he says. — I believe that enforcement proceedings will force the shipowner to take action to remove them immediately, he adds.

However, the ping-pong between institutions continues – and it doesn't look like anyone has any idea what to do with the wreckage to quickly solve the problem.

“The matter is being dealt with by Żegluga Szczecińska, the Office of Inland Navigation, Polish Waters and the West Pomeranian Voivodeship Office. Representatives of all institutions agree on the need to remove empty water buildings from the quay. So far, however, the administration is losing with the owner of the facilities,” reports the portal wSzczecinie.pl.

Shipwrecks

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Mateusz Madejski / Business Insider Polska

See also: The first “office machine” was erected in Szczecin

The rest of the article contains video material

Who will pay for it?

There is no indication that the institutions will take any binding and effective decisions on this matter soon. The problem is not only the regulations, but – as often happens in such cases – also money. There are many indications that the shipowner simply does not have the funds to unmoor and scrap the wrecks. And it may cost up to several hundred thousand. zloty. Moreover, state institutions are not eager to take on this logistical and financial challenge.

So it looks like the state is in a bind. Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Arkadiusz Marchewka, who is responsible for maritime economy, was asked about the matter. — It cannot be that someone who breaks the law doesn't care about everything, and something will be taken out of taxpayers' money and disposed of. These wrecks should be removed from there at the owner's expense – he answered questions from wSzczecinie.pl. So what can the state do about it? “We are looking for solutions” – says only the deputy minister.

Ships in the center of Szczecin

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Mateusz Madejski / Business Insider Polska

So should the people of Szczecin come to terms with the idea that the wrecks will remain with them for a long time? – They are ugly, but in some perverse way they create the atmosphere of the city – says one of the residents whom we met near “Daria” and Konrad sarcastically.