Serbian economy's access to the sea via the Danube - Presentation of Port of Constantza in Novi Sad on September 20th

(Constantza Port)

On September 20, the event "Constantza Port Day", organized by the National Company Maritime Ports Administration SA Constantza will take place in Novi Sad, at the Congress Center Master. This is the sixth edition of this regional event that became traditional, beginning with Belgrade in 2007, the year when Constantza Port opened the representative in Serbia.

The return in Novi Sad this year attracted as much interest of the representatives of the regional companies and institutions as its first edition, in 2011, when over 180 delegates attended the meeting with the Port of Constantza.

The ports of Novi Sad, Pancevo and Belgrade from Serbia, the port of Brcko from Bosnia, ports of Vukovar and Osijek from Croatia, the port of Baja from Hungary were represented at high level in the last year event. At the same time, businessmen from Bosnia - Hertzegovina, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland were interested in the message of Constantza Port, turning the event into an international one.

(Decebal Serban)

The local authorities have considered as natural the presence of Constantza Port in Novi Sad taking into consideration that many of the port partners belong to this area, and the potential for business development between the two sides is very promising. Moreover, the initiative of Constantza Port to meet business partners and its potential contributors was appreciated and there were discussions regarding the need for such meetings to take place in several ports on the Danube.

Decebal Serban, General Manager of NC "MPA" SA Constantza considers that "Due to the Danube, the Port of Constantza can be considered as the access of the Serbian economy to the sea. We have important competition for this statute, but the strategic position, the infrastructure and the facilities offered by the Port of Constantza are undeniable advantages for our partners in Serbia, and not only for them. Another advantage is that it is both a sea and a river port and the facilities available in Constantza Port allow mooring of any type of river vessel ".

(George Gabriel Visan)

- The Port of Constantza aims to provide quality and competitive services to the port customers, a complete and modern transport infrastructure, as well as environmental and safety and security conditions in the port. Only then the traffic of goods can be encouraged and attracted, so the Port of Constantza can be able to reconfirm its important role as a hub year by year - providing the shortest alternative transport route to and from Asia, as well as towards the center of Europe - and the regional center of distribution for the hinterland - said the Commercial Manager of NC MPA SA Constantza George Gabriel Visan.

Traffic of goods dominated by grain

The traffic of goods between the Port of Constantza and the Serbian ports has steadily increased in the last 5 years, from 927,444 tonnes in 2007, to 2,959,966 tonnes in 2011.

In the first seven months of the year, the traffic of goods between the Port of Constantza and the Serbian ports has registered 3,776,015 tonnes. The river traffic represents 65% of the total analyzed traffic of goods.

Among the structure of the cargoes types, the share is represented by grains (2,110,268 tonnes), iron ore, iron and steel scrap (839,109 tonnes), metal products (174,471 tonnes), oil products (157,485 tonnes).

The Port of Constantza is weekly linked to Belgrade and Pancevo, the BRP river container service, with Nord Marine as line agent in Constantza and Agent Plus in Serbia. This line has the connection possibility with other 20 container regular lines calling at the Port of Constantza and from there, with the ports of China, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, South Korea, Ukraine, Spain, Russia, India, Greece, Georgia and others. In addition, two Ro-Ro lines are operational (Constantza - Sete - Algiers - Sagundo - Valencia - Constantza) and a ferry-boat line (Constantza - Pendik).

There is an interest to attract in Constantza Port other regular lines, too. Recently, the ministries of transport of Romania and Georgia agreed upon the need to conclude a Memorandum in order to carry out the transport of goods with Ro-Ro and ferry-boat vessels between the two countries. Since 2011, the Port of Constantza has concluded protocols of cooperation with Black Sea Georgian ports, Poti and Batumi. By then through these protocols, the parties have proposed to promote the development of cooperation in the field of maritime transport and port infrastructure between the Port of Constantza and the two Georgian ports.

The total traffic of goods through the Port of Constantza in the first 7 months of this year was approx. 30 million tonnes, with 8,526 vessels calling at the port in this period.

Investments in infrastructure are priority

Major projects for investments in infrastructure that are currently underway in the Port of Constantza and the efforts of the National Company "Maritime Ports Administration" SA to attract private investments increase the chances for maintaining the Port of Constantza among the top competitive ports in this area and turn it into the most important distribution center for the Central and Eastern Europe.

The procedures to obtain financing from European funds through the Sectoral Operational Programme - Transports, for a Master Plan for Constantza port that will stand at the core of the development strategy of Constantza Port for the next years has started. Thus, all expansion and investments plans will be carried out correlated with the new Master Plan.

(Vladan Misic)

Constantza Port Administration is considering several other major investment projects. One of them is to improve safety conditions for modern vessels by providing increased depths of channels and basins in Constantza Port. This project, with a value of 49.5 million Euros, will minimize the risk of shipping incidents and there were considered shipping trends in recent years that have guided towards ships with large transport capacity in need of bigger depth for the access on the fairway and port basin.

In order to expand southwards the lighter berth in the Port of Constantza, an investment that will create an additional area of 10,900 square meters, six offers were made for the purchase of design and execution works. The estimated value of the contract is approximately 4.6 million Euro.

The carrying out of a metal road bridge with a span of 105 m and a passage across the existing railways with a total length of 590 m that, which will make the connection between the river-maritime area and the artificial island of Constantza Port, as well as its connection to the road network inside and outside the port has been proposed for funding and was considered eligible.

The objective is a priority, in order to achieve the territories and future development of the artificial island. The estimated value of the investment is 40 million Euro.

Three projects that we have already obtained financing in the Transport Sectoral Operational Programme - Transports (SOP-T 2007-2013) are priority:

- The road bridge at km 0-540 the Danube - Black Sea Canal is achieved 65% and will be completed during 2013.

- The extension of the breakwater in Constantza Port consists of the extension with 1,050 m of the existing breakwater, until reaching the originally projected length of 5,900 m

- The contract for construction works for the "Development of the railway capacity in the river - maritime area of the Port of Constantza" was signed, the execution period 18 months, the amount of investment being EUR 12,709,946.

The investment aims to improve the operation in the river-maritime area by building in the first stage of a systematized railways complex, that will serve the existing and future operators.

The aim is: to increase the railway capacity for dry bulk cargoes transportation from / to the river-maritime area of the Port of Constantza, increased transit of cargoes through the port by TEN-T; transfer of congestion generated by the development in the river-maritime area of North Agigea towards wider areas and near berths; construction of switching yard in an area where there is space enough for a further development.

The representative of Constantza Port, Vladan Misic said that "Constantza Port Day" became the most important event in the transport field not only in Serbia, but also in all countries of former Yugoslavia. The growing interest for the offer of Constantza Port, the traffic evolution with Serbia, growing constantly, show the real effect of the permanent relation with the Serbian partners of port, as well as the business meetings organized every year by the National Company Maritime Ports Administration SA Constanta.