EN
The paper discusses the key issues associated with the location of harbours near the river mouths and the pollution of harbour sediments with heavy metals (e.g. zinc, copper, nickel and lead) and organic derivatives of tin, using the examples of the Gdańsk and Klaipeda harbours. The authors have described the key location factors of the two harbours which largely determine sedimentation processes. It has been shown that the heavy metals content in the sediments of the two harbours does not exceed the concentration values permitted by Polish or Lithuanian law.