Bulgaria digitises seaport document processing

State-owned company Port Infrastructure has developed a national system for the electronic exchange of information in Bulgarian seaports in a project financed by EU grants, the ministry of transport said in a press release on Tuesday.

Bulgaria has two major maritime ports, Varna and Burgas.

"Maritime transport is most prepared for the transition to an e-waybill, which will significantly facilitate business operations and ensure better traceability and control of cargo shipments," transport minister Georgi Gvozdeykov said. He added that Port Infrastructure has implemented projects worth over 40 million levs ($22.2 million/20.5 million euro) with grants provided under the Transport and Transport Infrastructure operational programme in the 2014-2020 period.

Separately, the European Commission announced that it provided cohesion co-funding of 4 million euro ($4.3 million) from the European Regional Development Fund for the new Port Community System (PCS) in Bulgaria.

The project, which was carried out over 44 months, will link different systems managed by various organisations, establishing a seamless network for exchanging critical data and facilitating services, the Commission said.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)