February 27 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian port operator BMF Port Burgas said that it began the construction of the country's first berth for deep-water container ships which will expand the company's services amidst a growing demand by the cargo shipping industry in the Southeast Europe region.
The project, which was given the green light by the Burgas Municipality on February 23, will be funded under the Connecting Europe Facility, an EU fund established to promote investments in transport, energy and infrastructure, BMF Port Burgas said in a social media post on Sunday.
"With the new quay, we will not only be able to receive container vessels that cannot be berthed elsewhere in Bulgaria, but we will also take the first steps for the implementation of shore-side electricity supply solutions at our port," the company said. It added that the expansion will bolster its position in facilitating imports and exports in the Black Sea region and reduce carbon footprint in goods transportation.
The new berth will also increase the possibilities for the international corridors that the port operator serves, such as the Orient/East-Med Corridor, the Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia (TRACECA) which involves Bulgaria, Turkey, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and states from the Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, or TITR Middle Corridor, which links Europe to Southeast Asia and China, via Kazakhstan, the Caspian sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
The announcement comes just days after BMF Port Burgas inaugurated an intermodal terminal at the Bozhurishte Industrial Zone near the Bulgarian capital Sofia following investment of close to 5 million euro ($5.3 million). The terminal is registered as a temporary and bonded warehouse, meaning that it provides customs supervision and storage of dutiable goods without taxes for up to a year. The facility spreads over 27,000 sq m, the company said on social media.
BMF Port Burgas is the concession-holder of Port Terminal Burgas East-2 and Port Terminal Burgas West. The port operator is a wholly-owned unit of local company Advance Properties, which in turn is fully owned by local businessmen Georgi Domuschiev and Kiril Domuschiev.
($ = 0.9474 euro).