Expanding the Lower Danube
Bulgaria and Romania developing waterways for goods transport. The Lower Danube, a section of ‘Pan-European Transport Corridor 7’, is theoretically very important as a connection between the Balkan Peninsula and Central and Western Europe. In practice, however, its potential for international freight transport isn’t fully exploited. ITJ correspondent Frank Stier looks at the list of pending projects in Brussels, Bucharest and Sofia.
The 600 km section of the Danube that forms the Bulgarian-Romanian border is crossed by just two bridges and has few intermodal interfaces. The ‘New Europe’ rail and road bridge between Vidin (Bulgaria) and Calafat (Romania) in the west, which was completed in 2013, is quite modern, but the Danube Bridge (‘Friendship Bridge’), between Ruse (Bulgaria) and Giurgiu (Romania), inaugurated in 1954, has long reached the limits of its capacity.
Truck traffic either side of it is often jammed for miles, and this is likely to intensify from summer on, because a general overhaul will then begin. It’s scheduled to last two years and only one lane will be in use in this time.
The construction of further crossings between the two countries has been the subject more of speculation than actual discussion for many years. Now, however, a third Danube bridge is actually taking shape. It will once again allow trains and trucks to cross the river at Ruse and Giurgiu. The European commissioner for transport, Adina Valean, pledged her support for the project on 21 February.
The bridge is key for the north–south corridor from the Baltic Sea to the Aegean Sea, and the connection to the Black Sea. “The EU is ready to invest in it,” Valean said, “so it’s very important that it meets our standards.” The commission is also set to invest hundreds of millions of euros in the reconstruction of the disused Giurgiu–Bucharest railway line.
European Union requirements
As members of the EU Bulgaria and Romania have to comply with the prioritisation of intermodal transport solutions. Both countries find it difficult to create transhipment facilities from trucks and railways to inland barges on the Lower Danube and to increase waterway transport volumes.
Volumes in the Bulgarian Danube ports of Ruse, Svishtov, Lom and Vidin have declined of late, however, coming to 3.81 million t in 2022 (–4.1%). The maritime ports of Varna and Burgas, on the other hand, handled 30.7 million t, 20.2% more than in the previous year.
Bulgaria’s current transport infrastructure programme will expand intermodal capacities in the port of Lom. An ongoing invitation to tender for the construction of an intermodal logistics centre in the port of Ruse was cancelled at the end of 2023, however. Transport minister Georgi Gvozdeikov explained the move with financing difficulties. He nevertheless intends to stick to the plans and establish new opportunities there.
One fundamental problem on the Lower Danube is that its navigability is frequently restricted in summer, due to low water levels. The EU project ‘Fast Danube 2’, which provides both riparian states with EUR 230 million to deepen the riverbed and take other hydrological measures, aims to improve this situation. This, Gvozdeikov hopes, will increase navigability from 280 days a year to 340.
Installing a port community system for digital data exchange is another scheme designed to increase the ability of Bulgaria’s ports on the Danube to compete. Their business has also been impacted by the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine has reacted to Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea grain agreement and to protest blockades by Polish farmers and announced plans to increasingly use the Danube for transport to Western Europe in future. This move will increase the number of ships on the Danube – but hardly increase throughput volumes in Bulgarian ports.