Giurgiulesti, Moldova (Ports Europe) August 29, 2024 – The Romanian government approved on August 28 the start of negotiations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the purchase of landlocked Moldova’s only port of Giurgiulesti International Free Port (GIFP) on the Danube River, government official Mihai Constantin said.
Update: Romania wants to buy Moldova’s Giurgiulesti port from EBRD
But Bucharest faces unexpected competition from Bulgaria’s BMF Port Burgas, owned by brothers Kiril (55 years old) and Georgi Domuschiev (52 years old). They are also the owners of the most successful football club in Bulgaria in recent decades – Ludogorets Razgrad. Coincidently, Ludogorets will play today in Hincesti, Moldova some 170 km north of Giurgiulesti.
For BMF Port Burgas this is a strategic move undermining its biggest competitor in the Black Sea – Romania’s largest port of Constanta.
BMF Port Burgas
In September 2022, a significant interest in BMF Port Burgas was sold to the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund. BMF Port Burgas is a private, multipurpose terminal operator of Port Terminal Burgas East II and Port Terminal Burgas West. The Port handles general cargo, containers, dry bulk, liquid bulk and project cargo.
Combined, the two adjacent terminals feature 15 berths and five piers with a total quay length of 3,334 metres. BMF Port Burgas operates these terminals under two long-term concession agreements with Bulgaria’s Ministry of Transport and Communications. In 2023, the port handled around 7.2 million tons of cargo.
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There are projects for constructing four new berths in BMF Port Burgas. The port is also constructing Bulgaria’s first deep-sea container ship berth, equipped to handle specialized Panamax vessels, which will open in 2025. The container terminal celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
First caissons fixed for deep-water container terminal in Burgas
Burgas is located in the region of Burgas Bay on the Black Sea coast. It is the closest large port to the Bosphorus Strait. The city of Burgas is an important logistic node on Trans-European Transport Corridor VIII and a primary maritime gateway in the TRACECA network connecting Europe with Central Asia.
BMF Port Burgas sees 130,000 TEU, 7.2 mln cargo tonnes in 2023
The Romanian government, BMF Port Burgas and the EBRD did not comment on possible price for the port.
Romanian government strategy
Romania’s government acquisition will be through the state-owned Romanian company Administration of the Sea Ports of Constanta (Administratia Porturilor Maritime SA Constanta), which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
Romania, Turkey, Netherlands, Denmark firms interested in EBRD’s Giurgiulesti port
According to Constantin, the deal will optimise cargo flows and turn the Constanta port into a key cargo transportation points in the east of Europe. The deal will also make Constanta more competitive compared to Bulgaria’s Black Sea ports of Varna and Burgas, which have no direct access to Danube River.
The Giurgiulesti port was created in 2006 thanks to the transfer of 430 meters of the Danube and Prut coastline from Ukraine to Moldova. The coastline was exchanged for the shortest road from the southern part of the Odessa (Odesa) region of Ukraine to the northern one which passes via Moldova. The port is very close to the Moldovan border with Romania and Ukraine.
Earlier, the head of the press service of Moldova’s government Daniel Voda said that the state-owned part of Giurgiulesti port is not for sale. This part of the port has no real commercial value. More importantly, he added that Giurgiulesti International Free Port, under a concession (owned) by the EBRD, is negotiating with potential investors from Romania, Turkey, the Netherlands and Denmark.
The EBRD contributed $27.5 million to the construction of Moldova’s port on the Danube, which gave the small and poor country access to the Black Sea.
Giurgiulesti International Free Port is 133.8 km from the Black Sea. The port is capable of handling inland waterway vessels and seagoing vessels. Danube Logistics, a Moldovan LLC, is the port’s owner, investor and operator.
In December 2004, the company signed an investment agreement with the Moldovan government to develop the port project. Danube Logistics is a subsidiary of the Dutch Danube Logistics Holding. The sole owner of the holding is the EBRD.
The cargo
The Giurgiulesti International Free Port handled 2.17 million tonnes of cargo in 2023 – 18.6% more than in 2022. It also processed a record 8,460 TEUs.
Moldova’s Giurgiulesti port handled 2.17 mln tonnes of cargo in 2023
The positive cargo dynamics are associated with the growth of grain and seed exports. In 2023, these increased by 55% and reached 889,000 tonnes, or 41% of total cargo turnover. Imports of petroleum products increased by 4% to 599,000 tonnes.
Sunflower oil handling increased by 26% to 248,000 tonnes. Imports of construction materials increased by 10% to 195,000 tonnes. The import of fertilisers in big bags also increased by 48% to 119,000 tonnes. Coal imports and scrap metal exports declined.
The port
Giurgiulesti International Free Port (with the status of a free economic zone until 2030) is on the maritime section of the Danube. It has oil products, grain, vegetable oils, bulk cargo, container & general cargo terminals, a Ro-Ro terminal and a passenger terminal. Its water depth is 7 m.
According to the General Director of Danube Logistics (GIFP operator) Matthias von Tucher, cargo handled in 2023 also included shipments to and from Ukraine. The growth in grain exports, according to von Tucher, is the result of recent investments in new grain storage facilities at the port and the purchase of high-performance cranes and loading equipment.
He also said that the port is completing preparations for the construction of a new universal berth to increase transshipment capacity for dry cargo, general cargo and containers by 600,000 tonnes per year.
Romania wants control over the ports of Giurgiulesti
The Prime Minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, said in October 2023 that Romania should purchase the port of Giurgiulesti. The port is a key location in helping Ukraine with grain exports. Also, in the future, when the war has ended, the Moldovan port could have a role in the rebuilding of Ukraine. This last point is of interest to Romania.
Ukraine wants a “green corridor” linking Reni-Giurgiulesti-Galati
Ukraine is pushing for the creation of a “green corridor” between its port of Reni, Moldova’s only port of Giurgiulesti and Romanian second largest port of Galati, all situated on the Danube River, close to the Black Sea, and all capable of handling river-sea vessels.
“The proposal to introduce a “green corridor” includes joint control (at the border) between Ukraine and Moldova and coordinated control between Moldova and Romania,” Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Sergei Derkach said in October 2023. “With this, we will be able to reduce the number of stops for trucks and speed up inspections accordingly”.
The Ukrainian ministry has already begun negotiations with Moldova and Romania on the creation of such a “green corridor” to speed up the movement of goods and above all the export of Ukrainian agricultural products. Currently, trucks with grain wait for days to cross the borders between the three countries.
Derkach added that “(the corridor) will allow us to resolve the issue of comprehensive infrastructure development on the Ukrainian-Moldovan-Romanian border”. Of particular importance is the development of the Reni port checkpoint.
The “green corridor” project includes the reconstruction of the Reni-Galati road and its expansion from two to four lanes, as well as additional technical equipment for the border checkpoints along the entire 25 km route.
An agreement between Ukraine and Moldova on railway transport (railway corridor), ratified in August 2023 by the Verkhovna Rada (parliament in Kyiv), allows transit rail transportation under a simplified procedure.
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