Black Sea region logistics were heavily affected after the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the following blockade of Ukrainian seaports.

Shortly after the Ukrainian seaports have been blocked by Russian Navy forces, a significant part of the container traffic en route to Ukraine was directed to the neighboring port on the Black Sea – Constanta, Romania. Port of Constanta [150 km north of Varna, Bulgaria] was overloaded after a rapid increase of Ukrainian import containers. As a result, part of the cargo began to shift towards the port of Varna, Bulgaria where terminals are not congested.

Some transport stakeholders shared the opinion with Informall BG that the port of Varna is currently a more reasonable option for Ukrainian exporters shipping their cargoes in ocean containers. Given the current congestions in Constanta, some shippers from Ukraine prefer to deliver the cargo to/from Varna where the container terminal is operating under standard conditions.

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Daniil Melnychenko data analyst at Informall BG: “Varna is an appealing option for freight forwarders willing to move cargo seamlessly while the extra cost of travelling to Varna is compensated by cheaper cargo handling charges and affordable stevedore services”.

Also, similarly to Romania, the government of Bulgaria joined the initiative that simplifies cross-border rules for trucks carrying Ukrainian import and export cargoes. The initiative allowed to speed up the transshipment of Ukrainian containers with essential products and humanitarian aid arriving in the port of Varna.

Having trusted and friendly partners in Bulgaria Informall BG asked Kostadin Dimitrov, manager of the Varna West Terminal, for a few comments to find out more about container terminal operations amid the Russian-Ukrainian war:

“Q1 2022 period results did not demonstrate any significant increase in the volume of Ukrainian containers moving in transit. However, as Constanta terminal overloaded, we began to receive requests from Ukrainian freight forwarders interested in moving cargo via Varna terminal more often” – shares Mr. Dimitrov.

Kostadin suggests that shipping line restrictions imposed on the container equipment entering Ukraine is the main bottleneck for import container traffic moving from Varna (and Constanta) to Ukraine. While non-Ukrainian containerized cargo is continuing to move to the POD [place of delivery] in a container, Ukrainian cargo must be restuffed to a bonded truck for further delivery to Ukraine. This extra cargo handling operation is a time-consuming process that slows down overall container turnover and increases transportation costs.

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