Port of Varna ( bg, Пристанище Варна, Pristanishte Varna)
map
is the largest

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

complex in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. Located on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

's west coast on Varna Bay, along

Lake Varna Lake Varna ( bg, Варненско езеро, ) is the largest by volume and deepest liman or lake along the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, divided from the sea by a 2 km-wide strip of sand and having an area of 19 km², maximal depth 19 m ...

and Lake Beloslav, it also comprises the outlying port of

Balchik Balchik ( bg, Балчик ; ro, Balcic) is a Black Sea coastal town and seaside resort in the Southern Dobruja area of northeastern Bulgaria. It is in Dobrich Province, 35 km southeast of Dobrich and 42 km northeast of Varna. It spra ...

. It has a significant further development potential with of sheltered inland waterfront on the lakes alone, easily accessible by road and railroad and adjacent to Varna International Airport.

Overview

There are two anchorages at Varna roadstead: summer and winter. If violent northeasterly wind and wave conditions make the anchorages hazardous, a foul weather anchorage is available west of the high Cape

Kaliakra Kaliakra ( bg, Калиакра; ro, Caliacra) is a cape in the Southern Dobruja region of the northern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, which ends with a long and narrow headland east of Kavarna, northeast of Varna and southwest of Mangalia. The ...

east-northeast of Varna. Varna - frozen sea 4

Two inland canals connect the sea and Port o
Varna East
with Lake Varna, Lake Beloslav and Port o
Varna West
Channel 1 with draft 11.5 m and Channel 2 with draft 11.0 m. The canals form an island (Острова) on which a deepwater oil terminal, among other port facilities, is currently located. The depths of the ship berths and the approaches allow the handling of vessels of capacity up to 50,000 gross tons. In view of the stated safe canal depths, only vessels of draft less than and airdraft up to are allowed to Varna West. Vessels with load over 200 m, beam over 26 m, or over 20,000 gross tons are required to pass the channels during daylight hours only. The largest vessel handled (as of 2006) is the

Norwegian Dream MS ''Dreamward'' was a cruise ship owned and operated by Star Cruises. She was built in 1992 by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France as MS ''Dreamward'' for traffic with Norwegian Cruise Line. In 1998 she was lengthened ...

cruise ship (220 m in length, 50,700 gross tons). BASA-48K-1-37-25-Varna

Port of Varna offers full service: loading, discharging,

stevedoring A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

freight forwarding A freight forwarder, or forwarding agent, is a person or company who, for a fee organizes shipments for individuals or corporations to get goods from the manufacturer or producer to a market, customer or final point of distribution.

, storage and various intermodal services. For its approximately 40 berths, it operates 65 electric cranes and about 400 other pieces of ship, landside and warehouse port facilities. The port open-air storage area is and the warehouses . It has a well-forked railway and road network. The existing port facilities allow the handling of practically all kinds of solid bulk, break-bulk, containerized and some liquid-bulk cargoes. Principal exports include urea, soda ash, cement, clinker, silica, fertilisers, grain, containers and ro-ro. Principal imports are coal, metals, ores and ore concentrates, oil, phosphates, timber, molasses, containers and ro-ro. Since 2006, Port of Varna serves as a hub for BP and German

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

manufacturer Saga. In 2008, the port posted a 57% growth in overall tonnage handled, and at times in late summer it was stretched beyond capacity, due to redirected cargo from striking ports in the region and the year's record export of wheat from northeastern Bulgaria.

Future plans

The updated general plan for the Port of Varna to 2020 was approved in 1999. Major projects for new construction, reconstruction and modernization include: a deepwater container terminal and a ro-ro terminal on the island under the

Asparuhov most The Asparuhov most ( bg, Аспарухов мост) or Asparuhov Bridge is a bridge in Varna on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. It connects the Asparuhovo district to the rest of the city over the canals between the Black Sea and Lake Varn ...

bridge, a grain terminal on the north shore of Lake Varna south of the ''Dry Port'' storage base, a liquid chemicals terminal and a cement and clinker terminal at Varna West, and modernization of the passenger and ro-ro terminals at Varna East. In 2007, new plans were disclosed to relocate the container terminal from Varna East to a new larger basin on the northeastern shore of Lake Varna and to redevelop old port Varna East, located in the city centre, into a large marine attractions zone with a new cruise terminal, yacht marina, apartments, hotels, restaurants, museums, exhibitions, shopping, and other tourist facilities. In 2008, plans were disclosed for another deepwater container terminal on the south side of the island for vessels carrying over 2500

twenty-foot equivalent unit The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports.Rowlett, 2004. It is based on the volume of a intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box whic ...

s (TEU). A liquified petroleum gas terminal is also being developed at

Beloslav Beloslav ( bg, Белослав ) is a small industrial town in Varna Province, Northeastern Bulgaria, located 19 km away to the west from Varna downtown and Bulgarian Black Sea coast. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Belo ...

. Amidst the gas crisis of early 2009, discussions started of a new liquified natural gas terminal on , possibly on the northwestern shore of Lake Varna at Ezerovo. Also in 2008, discussions were resumed (suspended in 1981) for a 192 km long navigable canal

Rousse Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; bg, Русе ) is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, approximately south of ...

–Varna connecting the lower river

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

with the Varna lakes and the Black Sea, but this enterprise is still considered economically unfeasible and utopian by many. Other existing port terminals include th
Cruise Terminal
Petrol, LesPort, and Varna Thermal Power Plant (handling oil, timber, and coal respectively); th
Railroad Ferry Terminal
which is not part of the complex, is located on the south shore of Lake Beloslav opposite Varna West.

References

{{Reflist

External links

* http://www.port-varna.bg/ - Port of Varna, Пристанище Варна * https://web.archive.org/web/20060313130259/http://lifeseafarers.org/ - LIFE International Seafarers Centres-Varna * Panorama photos of the Port of Varn
Cruise TerminalPort of Varna Yacht Club
an
the quay
- Format: Apple QTVR

Transport in Varna, Bulgaria Buildings and structures in Varna, Bulgaria

Overview

Future plans

See also

References

External links