Today, May 18, 2015, at the Seamen’s House in Varna, the book “Bulgarian Ports /1879 – 2014/. Chronicle” was presented, published on the initiative of State Enterprise “Port Infrastructure”. It is dedicated to 135 years of port activities in Bulgaria. For the first time, it brings together the main dates and events from the history of Bulgarian maritime (on the Black Sea and Aegean Sea) and Danube ports. Its author is Dr. Atanas Panayotov, a historian and renowned maritime publicist and researcher.
The luxurious color edition of 200 pages presents all known and lesser-known facts from the history of Bulgarian Black Sea and Danube ports. The chronicle of Bulgarian ports contains the entire photographic archive related to their construction and development. The publication of the book is accompanied by an exhibition dedicated to the history of Bulgarian ports. In Varna, the exhibition will be opened on May 18, 2015, in the exhibition hall of the State Archive – Varna. It will subsequently be presented in the cities of Burgas and Ruse.
“With the publication of “Bulgarian Ports /1879 – 2014/. Chronicle”, State Enterprise “Port Infrastructure” not only marks the anniversary of the formation of the first state port administrative structure in Bulgaria, but also reminds us of the importance of ports and their activities for the development of every state,” stated Angel Zaburtov, General Director of PPIE. “This is the first attempt to bring together in one place everything related to the construction and development of Bulgarian maritime and river ports,” he added.
At the press conference, the progress of PPIE in implementing the project “Vessel Traffic Management Information System /VTMIS/ – Phase 3” was also reported. The project is financed by the Operational Programme “Transport” 2007 – 2013 and has a total value of 32,724,313.87 BGN. “With the successful completion of the project, Bulgaria will be one of the first member states to fulfill the European Union requirements concerning maritime safety and the EU directive requiring electronic processing of ship documents,” stated Zlatko Kuzmanov, Director of the “Vessel Traffic Management – Black Sea” Directorate at PPIE and project manager. Currently, the project implementation is at Act 15 phase for all constructed facilities and the procedure for obtaining Act 16 has been initiated.
The equipment upgrade of traffic control towers and testing procedures are forthcoming. The complete implementation of the VTMIS project should be completed during the current summer season.
The General Director of PPIE Angel Zaburtov announced that a contract has been signed for the design of the Intermodal Terminal – Varna worth 8 million BGN, which will be paid from the PPIE budget through capital transfer from the state budget. After completion of the design phase, an investor will be sought for the project construction. The first phase of the breakwater repair in the city of Varna has also been initiated.