Disputed alternatives on the Black Sea
Maritime transport between Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia and Russia under scrutiny War and naval mines are one thing, trade and transport interests another. Freight transport on the Black Sea needs a degree of reorientation. New maritime connections from Bulgaria to Georgia and Turkey are part of future scenarios.
Freight shipping activities on the Black Sea have been in a state of emergency for more than two years, condition that wasn’t changed when the first bulk carriers loaded with grain, such as the Razoni, were able to leave the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk again.
Bulgaria’s ferry traffic has also been severely impacted. Just a few years ago, the Balkan country was connected to Ukraine, Russia and Georgia by numerous ferry lines – of which now only two and a half remain.
Competition on old routes
In September 2020, the ferry link between Varna (Bulgaria) and the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk came to an end after more than forty years. Now the Georgian port of Poti only receives one call a week from the ferry port of Varna, namely the Navibulgar railway ferry unit Geroite na Sevastopol (The Heroes of Sevastopol).
For the Bulgarian company Varnaferry, its route to the Russian port of Kavkaz, which has been served by the ferry Varna since March 2009, has no longer been economically viable since the outbreak of the Ukraine war caused the requisite insurance policies to become exorbitantly expensive.
In the opposite direction, however, the two Russian ferries Avangard and Slavjanin still transport mainly butane gas cisterns to Varna. From Burgas, the Bulgarian enterprise PB Shipping sends its ro-pax ferry Druzhba (Friendship) to the Georgian port of Batumi on a weekly basis. It no longer calls at Novorossiysk (Russia) anymore, however.
Displeasure in Bulgarian merchant marine circles was aroused at the end of June 2022 by an announcement made by Dijan Dimov, director of the port of Burgas, that from the beginning of July there would be a second weekly ferry service between Burgas and Batumi.
Foreign interests in Bulgaria
“Georgia ships cargo destined for Ukraine and transit destinations,” Dimov said on 23 June. In fact, the Ukrainian ferry company Ukrferry listed online the departure of its ferry Vilnius from Burgas to Batumi for 4 July. “Foreign interests are undermining the development of our ferry lines on the Black Sea,” the Bulgarian online media channel maritime.bg commented, adding that a review of the history of the past twenty years shows “that our country has been repeatedly subjected to attacks that have hindered the growth and development of Bulgarian ferries on the Black Sea.”
While the Bulgarian ferry Druzhba was undergoing repairs, a Ukrainian attempt at a hostile takeover of Bulgarian ferry lines took place. In the end, however, Ukrferry allowed the deadline of 4 July this year pass unused and subsequently deleted the Burgas–Batumi service from its website. The Druzhba has once again been successfully plying its trade between the ports of Burgas and Batumi since mid-July.
However, neither the Ukrferry operator nor port director Dimov wanted to comment to the ITJ on why the Vilnius didn’t depart for Batumi and whether this ferry connection will be started at a later date. Instead, he left it at a general statement, namely that the Bulgarian ferry industry has “very good development potential.” In fact, only the port complex of Varna on the Black Sea offers the option of changing European-gauge goods trains from 1,435 mm to the 1,520 mm Russian standard gauge.
Competitive advantage
This unique selling point should give it a significant competitive advantage in intermodal freight transport between Europe and Central Asia. However, it can only benefit from this in times of peace. Bulgaria’s ferry industry also seems to be reorienting itself towards Turkey. In June 2022, Bulgarian media reported talks between Bulgaria and Turkey on the launch of ro-ro lines from Varna to Istanbul and from Burgas to the Turkish Black Sea port of Karasu.
According to the Bulgarian business magazine Kapital “there’s a declared interest of Turkish operators if the Bulgarian side would provide inbound and outbound infrastructure”.
As an alternative to road-bound goods traffic, such ferry connections could provide noticeable relief for the Bulgarian-Turkish border crossings. After all, there have been many days with kilometre-long queues of lorries accumulating there.