PORT of CONSTANTA comes back to Novi Sad!
On September 22, the 14th edition of the Constanța Port Day in Novi Sad will take place at the Sheraton Hotel in Novi Sad, an event organized by the Constanța National Company Maritime Ports Administration SA, through its representative in Serbia, and which has become the meeting point of the most important actors in the field of transport, logistics and agri-business.
After two years of the pandemic, the Constanța Port Day event returns to Serbia, with the representatives of Constanța Port once again having the opportunity to meet the Serbian partners and reaffirm their collaboration to new representatives of the ports on the Danube and from the entire region. This year the event will take place in Novi Sad, and will once again provide the right framework for meeting the Serbian business environment and facilitating the creation of new partners.
During the two years of restrictions imposed by the COVID pandemic, the port of Constanța had a favorable period from the point of view of the traffic operated, last year registering the highest volume operated in the Romanian maritime ports and announcing an absolute record of 67.5 million tons. Of the total traffic recorded in 2021, maritime traffic was 51.63 million tons, and river traffic represented 15.87 million tons. For the year 2022, according to preliminary data, there are increases in goods traffic of 17% – 37.5 million tons registered for 6 months, a trend that creates the conditions for exceeding the record traffic from 2021.
Regarding the traffic of goods originating or transiting to Serbia, in 2021 8.9 million tons were recorded, and for the first 6 months of 2022 – 4.1 million tons. The most important groups of goods are: grains, fertilizers (natural and chemical), iron ores, iron and steel scrap, blast furnace slag, solid mineral fuels, non-ferrous ores and scrap, equipment and machinery, metal products, petroleum products.
The goods from Serbia that transited the Constanța Port were destined for South Korea, Spain, Iran, Egypt, Portugal, Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon, Turkey, Italy. Cereals predominated, but other chemicals, iron ores, scrap iron and steel, oilseeds, oilseeds and fats, metal products and petroleum products also have a major share of the traffic.
In order to support port operators and to offer them conditions to attract cargo traffic, the Constanța Maritime Ports Administration focuses on investments in port infrastructure, both from European funds and from its own sources. This year alone, the investments from own funds, directed mainly to the port-road infrastructure, the water supply network, lighting, etc., amount of aprox. 25 millions euro. At the moment, there are ongoing European projects worth over 90 million euros and it is currently involved in attracting European funds totaling 400 million euros.
We are also currently reviewing the Constanța Port Master Plan, which will also take into account new project proposals from the port community. The revised development strategy of the Constanța Port will contain the list of short, medium and long-term investment projects, to which will be added reports on the digitalization strategy, the environmental protection strategy, regarding the development of the Constanța Port as a green port. The energy strategy of Constanța Port will also be addressed, detailing the use of alternative fuels.
In addition to the aspects related to the development of the port infrastructure, CN APM is still involved in the expansion of cooperation relations with countries on the transport routes – especially on the Silk Road. The Port of Constanța is the main gateway to the EU for cargo flows transitioning Georgia from the Caspian Sea area.
The Maritime Ports Administration has been actively involved in a continuous process of maintaining and seeking new partnerships between Black Sea ports, with the aim of opening new trade routes with ports around the world. Recently, a containerized line was launched with the port of Poti to ensure and attract flows of goods from the Caspian Sea to Europe, transitioning the port of Constanța. This fact has the effect of developing new shipping services to support customers in the hinterland, contributing to the creation of logistics corridors between the Danube countries, Serbia being the most important traditional partner, and new markets in the Caspian Sea area.
