The Romanian territory is crossed by the longest European river, the Danube, and has access to the Black Sea, the Romanian ports representing key components in the European river-maritime network. Ports such as Galaţi, Tulcea, Giurgiu and Constanţa are part of the pan-European Corridor VII and ensure the connection to the East of the goods coming from the Old Continent through some of the most important ports in Europe and even in the world, such as Rotterdam, Vienna, Mainz and Strasbourg. The strategic position of Romanian ports grants Romania the opportunity to become the main gate towards the goods traffic between the Western Europe and Asia. However, the evolution of the Danube ports is slowed down by difficulties in accessing the European funds necessary to the financing of large development projects and by the economic downturn which caused drops in the traffic of goods.
Romania owns the largest share of the Danube Basin, almost 30%. The Romanian sector of the longest European river includes important ports and river centres such as Galaţi, Girugiu and Brăila. In Romania, the Danube’s flow is divided into the River and the Maritime Danube. The Maritime Danube Ports Administration (APDM), based in Galaţi, is the national company in charge of managing the entire port infrastructure of the Maritime Danube which includes port lands and facilities, moorings, quays and berths, as well as container terminals, including the ports of Galaţi, Brăila, Harşova, Isaccea, Mahmudia and secondary branches Măcin, Chilia and Sf. Gheorghe. As port authority, the company applies port policies and port and waterway infrastructure development programmes and ensures the safety development of naval and auxiliary transport activities. The ports of the Maritime Danube benefit from a strategic position, at the intersection of the Maritime and River Danube and they offer access to both the Black Sea and the North Sea, through the Rhine-Main-Danube waterway, on the European Corridor VII. In 2009, the overall traffic of goods through the ports in APDM’s area of activity reached 7.6 million tonnes, while maritime traffic in the same period reached 2.1 million tonnes. The prognosis for 2009 estimated the traffic of over 12 million tonnes of goods, the drop being the result of the economic downturn which determined port operators to reduce their volumes. The company’s turnover reached RON 9.4 Million. This year, the company faces major financial difficulties, given the activity drop of the siderurgical plant ArcelorMittal in Galaţi, which used to ensure more than half the port activity on the Maritime Danube. APDM’s General Manager Mihai Ochialbescu has warned that “Galaţi ports, Docks and New Basin, but also those in Tulcea and Brăila can go bankrupt by the end of the year if port activity in the area will not recover, the port of Galaţi being 90% supported by the Mining Port, the only one that has a constant operation activity”. The port of Galaţi stretches on a surface of 865 thousand square meters and has 56 operation berths. The port is connected to the railway network, the access infrastructure being 12.34 km long in the port on standard gauge and few broad, Russian gauge lines along the operation berths but which are currently off service. The most important port operators that develop their activity in the port of Galaţi are Metaltrade, Romportmet, Trans Europa Galati, Unicom Oil terminal, part of Unicom Group, which also owns the Unifertrans railway operator etc.
The port of Brăila has an overall surface of 390 thousand sqm and 25 operation berths. The port of Brăila is connected to the railway network as well and has a feeding point for freight trains entering the port. The most important port operators in Brăila are Hercules Brăila, Trans Europe Port (TEP), Cerealcom Brăila, Romanel etc.
The port of Tulcea has an overall surface of 83 thousand sqm and a number of 41 operation berths. The railway network which ensures the port access has a total length of 0.32 km on standard gauge. The main port operators are Deltanav Tulcea, Frigorifer Tulcea, Navrom-Delta etc.
The Bystroye Channel took over 40% of the Sulina Channel’s traffic
The projects concerning the infrastructure of the Maritime Danube ports include the extension of berths 23 and 25 of the port of Brăila, the extension of berth 31 of the port of Galaţi, the development of vertical quays of the Docks and New Basin (port of Galaţi).
The APDM also develops two projects based on European financing: CAPRICO (Quality and Productivity through Continuous Training) which aims to train the staff working in the port system and WANDA which aims to create a new concept for ship-waste management along the Danube and to establish a sustainable, environmentally sound and transnationally coordinated approach, including the development and implementation of related measures to protect this water source and its complex ecosystems. At the same time, in 2009, CN APDM SA Galaţi has submitted to the attention of the Romanian Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure the documentation concerning the allocation of funds through the Sectoral Operational Programme – Transport for the CODENAV project – “Ship-waste collection system in the ports of the Maritime Danube”. The project is estimated at RON 40.38 Million (EUR 10.79 Million).
A recent problem of the Romanian ports in the discharging area of the Danube into the Black Sea is competition from the Bystroye Channel, built in Ukraine and which took over a large part of the traffic on Sulina branch. Currently, the percentage of vessels crossing the Sulina Channel is 60% in the Romanian port of Sulina and 40% through the Ukrainian part. The authority which manages the ports of the River Danube in Romania is APDF, the River Danube Ports Administration, based in Giurgiu. The company is the port authority of all River Danube ports, from Baziaş to Cernavodă, except for the ports of Zimnicea and Turnu Măgurele under the administration of Teleorman Local Council. ADPF uses both the naval transport infrastructure under concession from the Romanian Ministry of Transport, as well as patrimony goods. There are seven Romanian river ports under the administration of APDF Giurgiu. These ports are included in the TEN-T European transport network: Moldova Nouă, Drobeta Turnu Severin, Calafat, Giurgiu, Olteniţa, Călăraşi and Cernavodă. The 100% state-owned company manages 10 large ports and 11 smaller ports. In the first half of 2009, APDF had a turnover of RON 10 Million and a net profit of EUR 2 Million, 7% less that in the H1 of 2008, according to the latest balance sheet published by the company. The most important port on the river sector of the Danube is Giurgiu. The port permits the mooring of barges of up to 2,000 tonnes. The port holds 3 barge docks: the Ramadan sector (storage and warehousing surface of 11 thousand sqm), the Plant Basin – Bazinul Plantelor (2 berths and storage capacity of 29 thousand sqm) and the Chain Basin – Bazinul Veriga which includes repair halls, a naval site and syncrolift for 5,000 tonne vessels. The most important operators who ship their goods through the port of Giurgiu are SCAEP Giurgiu, TehnoSteel, DUNAPREF and CNF GiurgiuNAV.
The port of Drobeta Turnu Severin is located at the storage lake of the Iron Gates II hydroelectric complex and stretches on a surface of 138 thousand sqm. The port has a heavy loads ramp and it is connected to the city’s rail network. The port’s commercial traffic capacity is of 725 thousand tonnes/year. The port’s most important operators are Transeuropa Galaţi, SPET Craiova, Cerealcom, AGROVET etc.
The port of Calafat has a RO-RO ramp in the border-crossing area with Bulgaria, the link to Vidin, completed in the future by the Calafat-Vidin road-rail bridge, being currently provided by a ferry-boat service. The port of Cernavodă is strategically located at the intersection of the River Danube with the Danube-Black Sea Channel and has a shiplift technology. Operators include DobroPort and ARGOS Cernavodă (owns ARGOS naval site in the port of Cernavodă).
European project worth EUR 175 Million for the modernisation of river ports
APDF is currently developing the D.A.N.U.B.E programme (Unblocking the European traffic by developing high-quality TEN-T port infrastructure in Romania under optimal economic conditions) which benefits from European financing. The key aim of the project is to promote a well-developed transport system in Romania by permanently accessing port networks, increasing safety and facilitating the transport of freight and passengers to a level close to the European level. The project totals EUR 175 Million, EUR 4 Million of which will go to Moldova Veche, EUR 20 Million to the port of Drobeta Turnu Severin, EUR 18 Million to Calafat, EUR 107 Million to Giurgiu, EUR 6.5 Million to Olteniţa, EUR 8.7 Million to Călăraşi and EUR 8.2 Million to the port of Cernavodă. The programme is among the most important in Romania, as Dan Ofiţeru, General Manager APDF, confirms, and includes all sectors of activity, from the acquisition of modern vessels to equipping ports with new generation signalling systems.
Currently, the feasibility study is underway, the project benefits from European funds and budget financing amounting to EUR 400,000. At the same time, the feasibility study “Infrastructure for container terminal in the port of Olteniţa downstream quay extension” has been finalized, the funds being allocated through the Sectoral Operational Programme – Transport (SOP-T) for the EUR 3,996,554. These investments will result in the construction of the first modern container terminal on the River Danube.
by Alin Lupulescu
Share on:
