The general manager of Compania Nationala Administratia Portuara Maritima Constanta (Constanta Maritime Harbour Administration National Company) has announced that container traffic doubled this year.
The 120% increase in container traffic in the first nine months of this year will lead to investments worth 102 million euros in Constanta harbour for new transfer capacities.
Traffic intensified amid the evolution of trade, with imports expanding by 20% this year and exports increasing by 15%, but the growth was also due to a shift towards this type of transportation.
“Container traffic in the Constanta harbour increased by 120% in the first nine months of this year, to a total of 535,331 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit). One of the factors that triggered this development was the launch of a new container terminal in mid 2004. This is why we estimate the level of container traffic in 2005 will exceed 600,000 TEU,” stated Mircea Marius Banias, general manager of CNAPMC.
He added that the Constanta Sud Terminal (Constanta South Container Terminal) handles about 73% of all container traffic, despite the fact that it only became operational in April 2004.
“The latest developments in container traffic registered by CSCT point to the fact that the current operational capacity of 325,000 TEU has been exceeded, and therefore there”s a need to go to phases II and III linked to the development of the container terminal, ahead of the initially forecast deadlines. We estimate that the capacity of 800,000 TEU will be reached by year 2007,” said Banias.
He explained that this expansion of the operational capacity would demand investments standing at 102 million euros. CNAPMC representatives stated they had considered some financing, but they did not yet know to what extent they would be able to sustain this investment from their own sources. The CSCT container terminal, located in the southern part of Constanta harbour close to where the harbour area joins the Danube-Black Sea Channel, was designed to be developed in three stages: stage I (finalised) – operational capacity of 325,000 TEU, stage II (2008) – operational capacity of 405,000 TEU and stage III (2014-2015) – operational capacity of 800,000-1,000,000 TEU.
The first stage of the project involved investments standing at 88.3 million dollars and was 25% financed by CNAPMC, with the remaining 75% coming from a loan contracted from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
The loan for this project was granted to CNAPMC for a 20-year period, with a ten-year grace period and an interest rate of 2.7%. CSCT is operated by Dubai Port International, which rented and will operate the terminal over a period of 18 years, with the possibility of extension.