## 4 Results
### Financial Losses Resulting from Delays
#### 4.3.2 Costs of Delays Generated by the Port Regulations Applicable on the Studied Waterway  
The estimated operational costs of the vessels allowed for the calculation of the costs incurred by the shipowners of the delayed vessels during the study. The ships were divided into groups based on their size and type, which allowed for obtaining measurable daily cost results. The total delay time of 150.62 h was reduced by 2.42 h of delay for the two towing units. This necessity resulted from the inability to estimate the daily maintenance costs of these vessels (data not available). The estimated costs are for bulk/general cargo vessels, containers, and tankers. In total, these vessels generated a delay of 148.20 h (Table 8). In terms of vessel length, the most delayed ships occurred in the range of up to 100 m. These ships (24 units) also account for the longest delay time of 65.97 h; the majority of them were bulk carriers and general cargo ships. (Table 8). Out of the studied ships, 20 of them were between 100 to 150 m in length. They account for 41.55 h of delay. The delay of vessels over 150 m in length was 40.68 h and there were a total of 18 vessels. Again, bulk carriers and general cargo ships accounted for the largest delay time of 103.65 h. Tankers and container vessels are responsible for 3.25 h and 41.3 h of delays, respectively (Table 8). In summary, bulk carriers and general cargo ships are the most frequently delayed units and also account for the highest delay time. It should be taken under consideration that calculations made above pertain to the duration of current research. To estimate expected financial losses in a longer time frame, calculations of average daily maintenance costs of ships in a yearly prediction were carried out. A total of 56 12-h observations were conducted. The total duration of the research was 672 h. The average cumulative delay of ships during this time was 150.62 h, meaning an average of 0.22 h of delay per hour of observation. Multiplying this result by 24 h gives an average daily delay of 5.38 h. Similarly, multiplying the average daily delay by the number of days in a year (365) gives an average annual delay in ship-days (Table 9). The result of the calculation of the annual prediction of financial losses in the Swinoujscie-Szczecin waterway was 82 ship-days per year (Table 9). For reference, the result obtained in the 2016 study was 125.5 ship-days per year [32]. There are many factors that may contribute \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**LOA (m)** & **No of Ships** & **Container (Ship)** & **Tanker (Ship)** & **Bulk/General** & **Delay as per** \\  & & & & **Cargo (Ship)** & **Size (h)** \\ \hline
50–100 & 24 & 0 & 9 & 15 & 65.97 h \\ \hline
100–150 & 20 & 3 & 5 & 12 & 41.55 h \\ \hline
150–230 & 18 & 1 & 0 & 17 & 40.68 h \\ \hline
**Delay as per** & & 3.25 h & 41.3 h & 103.65 h & 148.20 h \\
**type (h)** & & & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 8: Contribution of various ship types to delays. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c} \hline Total research time (h) & 672 \\ \hline Total delay (h) & 150.62 \\ \hline Average delay per hour (h) & 0.22 \\ \hline Average daily delay (h) & 5.38 \\ \hline Average annual delay (h/year) & 1963.40 \\ \hline Average annual delay (ship/days) & 81.81 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 9: Average annual delay. to the discrepancy in the results obtained. However, identifying these factors is not the goal of this work, and their examination requires a deeper analysis including economic factors. In spite of the discrepancies in the results obtained, it can be firmly established that vessel delays that generate significant financial losses occur on the studied fairway. To estimate the expected annual financial losses the operational costs for each type of ship were averaged and the result of USD 7699.9 was obtained (Table 10). According to the results obtained, delays of vessels on the Swinoujscie-Szczcecin waterway may generate annual losses of over USD 630,000 (Table 11).