Constant Port Day in Belgrade on September 24th

On September 24, 2015, at Holiday Inn Hotel in Belgrade, Compania Națională “Administrația Porturilor Maritime” SA Constanța is organizing the ninth edition of "Constanța Port Day", a traditional event in the region because of the interest shown for this annual meeting between business partners, investors and authorities from Romania and Serbia.

The port of Constanța comes back to Belgrade, in order to bring together businessmen who already use the opportunities offered by the Romanian maritime ports and intend to develop their business, well-known but also potential partners.

Delegates from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Hungary, Austria and of course Romania have announced their participation in the event, an encouraging fact for the organizers.

Compania Națională “Administrația Porturilor Maritime” SA Constanța has made sustained efforts since 2007, when the representative office was opened, in order to promote and accomplish strong and lasting business partnerships between Serbian and Romanian companies.

Grains dominate the traffic of goods with Serbia

According to the statistics, the traffic of goods between Romania and Serbia, through the port of Constanța, and the number of Serbian companies located in the port of Constanța have registered significant increases from 2007 to present.

Since the beginning of the year up to August 15, the traffic of goods between the port of Constanța and Serbia was of 4.02 million tonnes (compared to 2.5 million tonnes on August 15, 2014), of which 2.36 million tonnes the river traffic (compared to 1.5 million tonnes on August 15, 2014).

Serbia exports grains, in transit through the port of Constanța, to the South Korea, Spain, Iran, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Portugal, Netherlands, Tunisia, Italy, Libya and metal products to Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Spain. Serbia also imports, with transit through the port of Constanța, coal and coke, fertilizers, iron ores and scrap, non-ferrous ores and scrap, oil products, raw or processed minerals, machines and transport equipments from countries like: Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Ukraine, Russia, China, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Algeria, Denmark.

In the total traffic, the grains are the most important ones, with more than 3.03 million tonnes (compared to 1.1 million tonnes on August 15, 2014), followed by coal and coke with 242,413 tonnes, fertilizers 222,960 tonnes, iron ores and scrap 211,019 tonnes.

On the list of the traffic with Serbia there are registered: non-ferrous ores and scrap 145,023 tonnes, metal products 83,584 tonnes, oil products 53,236 tonnes, raw or processed minerals 18,126 tonnes, machines and transport equipments 7,221 tonnes, food stuff 4,077 tonnes.

(Valeriu Nicolae Ionescu)

The grain storage capacity in the port of Constanța currently amounts to 1,259,300 tonnes, representing 50% of the capacity of Constanța county and 7% of the total grain storage at country level, which is 18 million tonnes.

It should be noted that the majority of the port operators have projects for the development of the grain storage capacity, which will certainly lead to the increase of the grain shipments.

In 2014, the port operators registered grain traffic as it follows: United Shipping Agency SRL – 5.7 million tonnes, Chimpex – 4 million tonnes, North Star Shipping SRL – 3.93 million tonnes, Canopus Star – 2.4 million tonnes, Silotrans – 2 million tonnes, Umex SA – 660,503 tonnes, Socep – 521,108 tonnes, Minmetal SA – 425,628 tonnes, Barter Port Operator – 159,177 tonnes, Silo Port – 69,947 tonnes.

The following have plans to extend their grain storage capacity: Chimpex (by 200,000 tonnes in addition to the existing capacity of 235,000 tonnes), Comvex (by 200,000 tonnes), Socep (by 120,000 tonnes in addition to the existing capacity of 80,000 tonnes), Umex (by 60,000 tonnes), United Shipping Agency (by 22,400 tonnes in addition to the existing capacity of 260,000 tonnes).

In the current economic climate, CN APM SA Constanța appreciates the Serbian economic potential and in this regard considers the Serbian economic agents as important partners for the future development of the port of Constanța.

Both the representatives of CN APM SA and the Serbian partners believe that in the economic relations with Serbia, one of the biggest advantages of the port of Constanța is the fact that it is both maritime and river port, allowing the accommodation of any type of river and seagoing vessel.

Valeriu Nicolae Ionescu, CEO of CN APM SA Constanța, assesses:

- Due to the Danube, the port of Constanța may be considered the exit to the sea for Serbia. We do have important competitors for this status, but the strategic position, the infrastructure and facilities offered by the port of Constanța are undeniable advantages for our Serbian partners. We also enjoy the interest shown by the European Commission, which within the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region has expressed its willingness to offer support through EU co-funding for much needed projects in order to ensure navigation reliability on the Danube, a transport corridor for the economic development, which respects the environment, but has a great potential that must be exploited. It is necessary to focus all the efforts for the maintenance of the Danube fairway, through investments for dredging equipment, fairway marking and riverbed surveying. The investments may be carried out in compliance with EU environmental legislation, respecting the biodiversity, which will have positive effects on the economic development of all the riparian communities, and not only.

This initiative is supported by important European organizations, the European Federation of Inland Ports (EFIP), the Association "Inland Navigation Europe", the European Barge Union (EBU), the European Skippers Organisation (ESO), Pro Danube International – committed in finding financing through European funds for the projects intended to increase the navigation reliability on the Danube.

Administrația Porturilor Maritime Constanța aims at determing the increase of the traffic of goods by providing quality and competitive services, a complete and modern transport infrastructure, as well as by complying with environmental, security and safety conditions. This is the only way the port of Constanța is able to restate year by year its role of important transit centre – providing the shortest transport alternative from and to Asia, as well as to the Central Europe – and regional distribution centre for the area that it serves.

This is proven by the fact that Compania Națională “Administrația Porturilor Maritime” SA Constanța has been included in the Plimsoll Top 400 Report, being listed among the most performing companies in the shipment and port services global industry.

The British periodical has analysed the financial data registered in 2012, 2013, 2014, highlighting the turnover and the profit constantly increasing, above the industry average. For example, the pretax profit margin has increased from 17.4% to 28% in 2013, considering that the industry average was of 4.5%.

According to Plimsoll Report, CN APM SA Constanța is included in:

- Top 50 companies listed as “The best trading partners” (position 21);

- Top 50 in terms of Value Added;

- Top 50 in terms of Trading Profits.

The Plimsoll reports are used to assess the attractiveness of the companies in the industry, in order to gain better understanding of the market and identify sound companies with whom to conclude business partnerships.

Established in 1987, Plimsoll Publishing Limited has since become one of the leading business analysts across the globe, especially in UK, France, Spain, as well as in Asia.

Through the event ”Constanța Port Day in Belgrade”, CN APM SA Constanța aims to meet the needs of its partners: transporters, agents, shipping lines, port operators, in order to develop their business relations with Serbian partners in a favourable context, in order to contribute together to the improvement of the performance of Constanța Port.

- I wish this event would be really helpful for our Serbian partners in order to develop and renew their business, using the advantages of Constanța Port, contributing to the development of bilateral Romanian-Serbian relations in the field of maritime and intermodal transport - stated Valeriu Nicolae Ionescu, CEO of CN APM SA Constanța.