Valeriu Nicolae Ionescu, CEO of the Constanta Port Authority, is turning Romania’s port on the Black Sea into a thriving commercial operation which adheres to the highest international standards. An engineer with a successful career in investment banking, he brings a private-sector, market-oriented perspective to port development. He discusses current projects designed to enhance the Port of Constanta’s facilities and services.
European Times: What is your mandate as CEO of the Port Authority?
Valeriu Nicolae Ionescu: My mandate is to transform the port into a successful operation as part of the government’s programme to privatise formerly state-owned enterprises and to retain only a minority share. The Port Authority now serves as an administrator, while all the operators at the port are private. Before 1989, the Port of Constanta was fully state-owned and mainly served Romania’s heavy industry, but now it handles lighter but more valuable products, such as automobiles, along with liquid and dry bulk cargo, grains, coal, iron and more.
While container traffic has declined at our port during the past few years as a result of the financial crisis and increased competition from other Black Sea ports, Constanta Port is fully prepared to accommodate containers of 4,000 to 5,000 TEUs. This is the most advantageous container capacity for the Black Sea basin because of the limitations created by the Bosporus Strait. The Port of Constanta has natural depths ranging from 16 m to 19.5 m, which means it can accommodate ships up to 300 m long and with high capacities, including 200,000 DWT bulk carriers, 150,000 DWT oil tankers and 100,000 DWT port containers. The port’s current capacity is around 90 million tonnes per year, and last year we handled around 55 million tonnes of cargo.
European Times: What improvements do you plan for the port?
Valeriu Nicolae Ionescu: We want to upgrade the port’s infrastructure to be able to increase its operational capacity and enhance its intermodal connections, which will strengthen the Port of Constanta’s role as a core port in the TEN-T network. The Port of Constanta is the only Black Sea port with direct connections to the Rhine-Danube Corridor. We strongly believe that Black Sea oil for EU markets will be one of the main cargos passing through the port in the future. We will continue to attract EU funds to improve the port’s facilities and services.
The port still has room to expand and we welcome partnerships with investors who present good business plans.
European Times: What changes do you anticipate in the port over the coming 10 years?
Valeriu Nicolae Ionescu: The port’s infrastructure will be much more efficient, and the services offered by all operators in the port will be more user-friendly concerning quality, costs and time. More cargo will be shipped to and from the Danube through the southern part of our port as a result of modern technology and productive partnerships. We would also like to partner with other ports in the region. The Black Sea has enormous economic potential and the Port of Constanta will, for sure, serve as a key shipping and logistics hub.
