Approximately 100 ships are waiting in the Black Sea, near the Sulina port, to enter the maritime Danube to reach the river ports and take over products for other countries. The longest waiting time of a ship is 64 days.
The director of the Tulcea Zonal Command, chief captain Dan Ichim, said that in addition to the 96 ships waiting in the Romanian territorial waters of the Black Sea to enter the Sulina channel, another 14 ships are waiting to enter the Bîstroe channel.
“The longest waiting time for a ship in the Romanian waters of the Black Sea to enter the maritime Danube is 64 days. Not all ships waiting in the Sulina harbor have contracts to reach the Danube ports. There are many who are waiting for an order in this sense. Those who are contracted wait a maximum of 10 days,” Ichim said.
He also said that ships loaded with perishable goods, petroleum products and ships with humanitarian aid have priority when entering the Sulina channel.According to him, the operating capacity of the Danube ports is limited. “We introduce many ships in vain, if only very few can be loaded, due to the limited possibilities of the ports to load or unload products. If we had complied with all the requests received, the Danube would have been blocked and could not passes between the ships”, stated the director of the Tulcea Zonal Command.