Since 1st January 2007, the Port of Constantza has become Free Zone.

Port of Constantza is the ” lifeblood_ of Europe. The port and city of Constantza are closely interconnected. The ports’ history dates back to the 6th century BC, yet the port’s modern period started in October 1896 under King Carol I, when the first grain silos were built and linked by rail to the rest of Romania. Nowadays, intermodal facilities link the port to seven countries and more than 50 million inhabitants. The port has a natural connection with the Danube Basin through the Danube-Black Sea Canal.

The port is fully intermodal, offering transport possibilities by road, rail, IWW, a pipe network, and air cargo. IWW represents about 25% of throughput, road represents about 35%, and rail approximately 30%.

The Port of Constantza’s theoretical capacity is about 90 million tons p.a., which is based on 140 berths (32 km of key walls), with natural depths of 19 meter and modern equipment.

Additionally, the port has ample space for expansion by land reclamation (up to 1,000 ha) within its existing breakwaters.

The main challenge of the port is to continuously adapt to larger ships and new types of cargo by upgrading existing port facilities to the level needed as a TEN-T core port. The Administration is therefore proactively pursuing new links with the Caspian region in order to attract new cargo flows as well as new types of cargo.

The Port of Constantza functions as a hub for the Black Sea Region and a distribution centre for Central and Eastern Europe. Could you briefly describe the main traffic in your port? What are the main challenges related to them?

Port of Constantza: Constantza is a multipurpose port, equipped for many types of cargo: dry and liquid bulk, containers, general and project cargo, Ro-Ro, and passengers. In the past five years, the port has become the major Eastern gateway for agro-related business to and from Romania, Moldova, Northern Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Hungary. As such, it reached about 19 million tons (33% of throughput) in 2015.

As mentioned above, the major challenge for the port is attracting additional volumes, especially in terms of containerized goods through its three terminals with a total capacity of 1.5m TEUs p.a.

Furthermore, the Administration is negotiating to attract businesses such as green energy, recycling, manufacturing, and oil-related processing businesses.

The Port of Constantza is located at the crossroads of the trade routes linking the markets of the landlocked European countries to Transcaucasus, Central Asia, and the Far East. The port has excellent connections with the Central and Eastern European countries through the Corridor IV (rail and road), Corridor VII – Danube (inland waterway), to which it is linked by the Danube-Black Sea Canal, and Corridor IX (road), which passes through Bucharest.

Port of Constantza: The maritime dimension is a major opportunity for us and this is why we are extending our links to the Caspian Basin in order to attract volumes not only from China but from Iran as well. Romanian and Bulgarian ports can leverage the advantage of being direct entry points into the EU, which in turn may represent good opportunities for MoS projects linking the East and West Coasts of the Black Sea.

Together with the Romanian rail and other partners, we are particularly promoting the land corridor from the Azeri ports to the Georgian ones.

Constanta port mission NC “Maritime Ports Administration” SA Constantza has the role of port authority for the Romanian Ports – Constantza, Midia and Mangalia (and Tomis Marina). From its position, it aims to provide quality and competitive services to the port’s customers, to offer a developed transport infrastructure, as well as security, safety, and environmental port conditions, thus encouraging the cargo traffic and transforming the Port of Constantza into an important transit center – by offering the shortest transport alternative to the center of Europe and becoming a regional distribution center – the leader – for its hinterland.

The two satellite ports Midia and Mangalia that are located not far from Constantza Port are part of the Romanian maritime port system under the coordination of Maritime Ports Administration SA Constantza.

The Port of Constantza is one of the main distribution centers for Central and Eastern Europe, offering many advantages, of which mention must be made of:

Multi-purpose port with modern facilities and sufficient water depths in the port basins to accommodate the largest vessels passing through the Suez Canal;
Direct access to the Central and Eastern European countries through the Pan-European Corridor VII – the Danube;
A hub for the container traffic in the Black Sea;

Good connections with all modes of transport: railway, road, river, airway, and pipelines;Customs facilitation for commercial operations performed through the Port of Constantza;

Modern facilities for passenger’s vessels;

Land availability for future expansion;
Since 1st January 2007, the Port of Constantza has become Free Zone.