Port of Constanţa
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The Port of Constanţa is located at the crossroads of the trade routes linking the markets of the landlocked countries from Central and Eastern Europe with the Transcaucasus, Central Asia and the Far East. It is the main Romanian port and it ranks among the first 10 European ports.
The favourable geographical position and the importance of the Port of Constanţa is emphasized by the connection with two Pan-European transport corridors: Corridor VII - Danube (inland waterway) and Corridor IV (rail-road). The two satellite ports Midia and Mangalia that are located not far from Constanţa Port are part of the Romanian maritime port system under the Maritime Ports Administration SA Constanţa coordination.
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[edit] History
The official beginning of the construction of the Port of Constanţa was 16 October 1896. The port was finished and first opened in 1909 and had adequate facilities for that time:
- 6 storage basins;
- a number of oil reservoirs;
- and of course grain silos.
Starting with these facilities the Constanţa Port operated in 1911, 1.4 million tons of cargo.
Between the two World Wars the port was equipped with a corn drier and floating dock, a new building for the port administration was built and a stock exchange was established thus giving the Constanţa Port new facilities and in 1937 the amount of cargo handled was 6.2 million tons.
Starting with 1967 the port was expanded to the south. The construction of the Danube-Black Sea Canal which opened in 1984 had a major role in the development of the port. After the opening of the canal the port grew very fast and after two decades it had a surface area of 3900 ha.
The height of cargo traffic was achieved in 1988 when the port handled 62.3 million tons of cargo.
Nowadays the total capacity of the port is around 100 million tons of cargo per year.
[edit] General info
The Port of Constanţa is located on the western coast of the Black Sea, at 179 nM from the Bosphorus Strait and 85 nM from the Sulina Branch, through which the Danube flows into the sea. It covers 3,926 ha of which 1,313 ha is land and the rest of 2,613 ha is water.
The two breakwaters located northwards and southwards shelter the port creating the safest conditions for port activities. The present length of the north breakwater is 8,344 m and the south breakwater is 5,560 m.
Constanţa Port has a handling capacity of 100 million tons per year and 156 berths, of which 140 berths are operational. The total quay length is 29.83 km, and the depths range between 8 and 19 meters. These characteristics are comparable with those offered by the most important European and international ports, allowing the accommodation of tankers with capacity of 165,000 metric tons of deadweight (DWT) and bulkcarriers of 220,000 DWT.
Constanţa Port is both a maritime and a river port. Daily, more than 200 river vessels are in the port for cargo loading or unloading or waiting to be operated. The connection of the port with the Danube river is made through the Danube-Black Sea Canal, which represents one of the main strengths of Constanţa Port. Due to low costs and important cargo volumes that can be carried, the Danube is one of the most advantageous modes of transport, an efficient alternative to the European rail and road congested transport.
Important cargo quantities are carried by river, between Constanta and Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and Germany. River traffic is very important for Constanţa Port, having a share of 23.3% of the total traffic in 2005, when 8,800 river vessels have called to the port.
[edit] Satellite ports
The two satellite ports of Constanta are Midia, located 25 km north of the Constanta complex and Mangalia, 38 km to the south. Both perform a vital function in the overall plan to increase the efficiency of the main port's facilities-and both are facing continuous upgradings in order to meet the growing demands of cargo owners.
In 2004 the traffic achieved by the two satellite ports was 3% from the general traffic, 97% being achieved by the Port of Constanţa.
[edit] Midia Port
The Port of Midia is located on the Black Sea coastline, approx 13.5 nM north of Constanta.
It is one of the satellite ports of Constanta and was designed and built to serve the adjacent industrial and petrochemical facilities.
The north and south breakwaters have a total length of 6,97 km. The port covers 833,9 ha of which 233,7 ha is land and 600,1 ha is water. There are 14 berths (11 operational berths, 3 berths belong to Constanta Shipyard) with a total length of 2,24 km.
Further to dredging operations performed the port depths are increased to 9 m at crude oil discharging berths 1-4, allowing access to tankers having a 8.5 m maximum draught and 20,000 DWT.
Traffic in the Port of Midia was 2.099 million tons of cargo in 2006.
[edit] Port of Mangalia
The Port of Mangalia is situated on the Black Sea, close to the southern border with Bulgaria, and over 260 km north of Istanbul. It has an area of 142.19 ha of which 27.47 ha is land and 114.72 ha is water.
The north and south breakwaters have a total length of 2.74 km. There are 4 berths (2 operational berths) with a total length of 540 m. The max. depth is 9 m.
Traffic in the Port of Mangalia was 0.203 million tons of cargo in 2006.
[edit] Statistics
In 2007 the Port of Constanţa handled a total traffic of 57.784 million tons of cargo and 1,411,414 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) making it the 9th busiest cargo port in Europe. The port is the main container hub in the Black Sea and all direct lines between Asia and Black Sea call in Constanţa. This is due to the efficiency of the Constanţa South Container Terminal (CSCT) operated by Dubai Ports and to the natural position of the port: deep water (up to 18.5 meters) with a direct link to the Danube.
[edit] Terminals
The Port of Constanţa has all the terminals needed for a modern port:
- Liquid bulk
- Dry bulk
- Ore, coal, coke
- Chemical products and fertilizers
- Agribulk
- Bulk cement and construction materials
- RoRo/Ferry
- Containers
