Transport hub of strategic importance - Presentation of Constantza Port to Serbian businessmen on September 22 in Novi Sad

(Constantza Port)

The fifth editionof Constantza Port Day will be held this year for the first time in Novi Sad,on September 22, at the ’’Master’’ Congress Center. The role of this event thathas become traditional in the region is to promote opportunities for the Portof Constantza and identify the most appropriate ways of cooperation withSerbian companies.

The delegation ofthe National Company Maritime Ports Administration SA Constantza at ConstantzaPort Day will be headed by Aurelian Andrei Popa, General Manager.Representatives of companies operating in the Port of Constantza, interested todevelop business in Serbia will be present in the event.

New LPG and grainterminals

The Port ofConstantza is undergoing an important period for its future in the Europeancontext when the infrastructure investments are needed to cope with the trafficgrowth, transport market demands and to enhance its position on thePan-European transport corridors as well.

(Aurelian Andrei Popa)

’’The Port of Constantza needs investments. In fact,investments are made continuosly by both the NC MPA SA Constantza ininfrastructure, and largely also by the port operators. For example, in2009-2010, private investments in the Port of Constantza reached 750 million USdollars. The rate is maintained this year too, numerous projects beingunderway. There are investments for the LPG, grains, chemicals terminals’’, said Aurelian

Andrei Popa, theGeneral Manager of the National Company Maritime Ports Administration SAConstantza.

RompetrolRafinare Company, a member of Rompetrol Group, has completed the constructionof a new terminal for liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in the port of Midia, thetotal investment value being 3.8 US dollars.

The newinvestment has a capacity of about 3,000 tons/transport, being directlyconnected with two LPG tanks of the Petromidia refinery. The Terminal allowsberthing of ships with a maximum capacity of 10,000 tdw and tank barges with amaximum capacity of 2,000 tdw.

Octogon Gas &Logistics has invested 12 million Euro in the largest maritime LPG terminal inRomania. Through this terminal, the LPG is supplied to the domestic market but it isalso exported to the neighboring countries, such as Bulgaria, Serbia andHungary.

The terminal hasan area of about 24,000 sq.m. and a storage capacity of 4,000 cm. It isconnected by rail, road network and water transport. The investment includes amooring berth with a depth of 9.5 m, which has a quay length of 120 m. The LPGTerminal in the Midia Port has the potential to become one of the leadingplayers in the LPG market in Central and Eastern Europe.

The port operatorshave also concentrated on the creation of new facilities for grain traffic,that has been steadily grown in recent years. It is estimated that 2011will bea record crop year for grains, the Port of Constantza being ready to take overlarge quantities of grains and sun-flower for export or storage.

United ShippingAgency has invested 14 million Euro in building a grain terminal fitted outwith all the necessary equipment, followed this year by the completion of asoybean terminal, having a value of 10 million Euro.

Minmetal isrunning an investment of over 3 million Euro in a grain terminal with acapacity of 130,000 tons.

Construction of amolasses terminal, capacity expansion of a grain terminal, building a terminalfor chemical products, an LPG terminal in Mangalia Port are projects to beprepared for the documentation stage.

Three objectivesfor infrastructure – over 150 million Euro

Projects fundedby the SOP-T remains priority:

The road bridgeacross the Danube-Black Sea Canal is under construction, an investment of over30 million Euro. The opportunity of this investment has occured due to thepossibility of connecting the Port of Constantza to the Bucharest-ConstantzaHighway. The project provides an adequate road connection between the Northpart and the South part of the port.

The extension of the Northern Breakwater consists of the construction of1,050 m added to existing breakwater, thus reaching the designed length of5,900 m. The estimated value of the project is 121 million Euro.

The completion of the Northern Breakkwater in the Port of Constantza aimsto improve the condition for the operation of vessels and the safety ofnavigation, as well as the reduction of the destructive effects of waves on theexisting infrastructure in the port basin.

Development of the rail capacity in the river-maritime area of the Portof Constantza aims to improve the operation in the river-maritime area bybuilding a systematized railway lines system in the first stage, to serve thecurrent and future operators by 2020. Total value of the investment is 17.6million Euro.

Transport routes in the Port of Constantza

The containerizedtransport of the liner services linking the Port of Constantza and the Far Eastports has had the effect of transforming the Port of Constantza in a hub forthe Black Sea area and Central and Eastern Europe.

The distancesbetween the Far East ports and the Port of Constantza are shorter than thedistances between them and ports in the North Sea, resulting lower costs andtime for transport.

The Port ofConstantza is weekly linked to Belgrade and Budapest by a river line servicefor containers, provided by the Austrian company Helogistics Holding GmbH. Theline will be extended towards Croatia, to Vukovar and Austria, to the ports ofVienna, Krems and Enns.

Also, a lineoperated by BRP having the ’’Nord Marine’’ as a liner agents is linking weeklyConstantza to Belgrade and Pancevo.

These Danubelines are connected to approx. 20 regular lines arriving at Constantza andcalling at numerous ports in China, Egipt, Turkey, Israel, South Korea,Ukraine, Spain, Russian Federation, India, Greece, Georgia etc. on theirroutes.

A new sea linefor ferry-boat between the ports of Constantza and Pendik in Turkey will beoperated this year, according to a Protocol of Cooperation signed by theRomanian and Turkish Ministries of Transports.

The Protocolprovides promotion of the advantages and facilities of the two ports and aimsto identify new partners for cooperation in order to intensify the commercialrelations and traffic growth.

The two partiesof the Protocol are promoting the cooperation in the maritime transport ofgeneral cargoes, Ro/Ro and passengers transport, minimizing the necessary timefor legal and operational procedures for different types of goods, the exchangeof experience in strategic planning of port development.

Another regularline, to the ports of Ukraine, Kherson and Dnepropetrovsk, is operated byTavria Line. With two own vessels, Tavria Line has strengthened its position onthe containers transport market on the central region, operating initially onlyon the route Ukraine-Turkey-Ukraine. Constantza and Ukraine are alsoconnected through other line services,having the ports of Poti and Novorossiysk as destination.