High tide for battle over new customs clearance port

Tuesday's opening of a new border and customs clearance port for ferries in Swinoujscie became a subject of conflict between Zegluga Pomorska (ZP) of Poland and German Adler Schiffe ferry owners. The disagreement concerned the site of the new customs clearance port. Until recently all duty-free boats running between Swinoujscie and Germany were cleared in the city of Sw inoujscie, but now the customs clearance site has been moved to the new port. One of Germany's two largest ship owners protested against the d ecision. Adler Schiffe, argued that the new port is fully leased by his largest competitor, Zegluga Pomorska which will not allow other ships to stop there. "All companies will be free to make use of the wharf," says Ryszard Naklicki, the head of ZP. This conflict is a continuation of a battle between the two companies which has been running for the past couple of years. Both ferry companies have much to lose, with about a dozen ferries running a couple of times a day on short distances, duty free shops have revenues reaching millions of euro. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B3) A.K.