Bulgaria, Russia Mull Joint Venture to Run Varna-Port Kavkaz Ferry

Bulgaria's newest Black Sea ferry line with the Russian Port Kavkaz was opened in the spring of 2009 has not lived up to the expectations yet. Photo by BGNES

The governments of Bulgaria and Russia are considering setting up a joint company in order to operate the ferry line connecting the Black Sea ports of Varna and Kavkaz.

This possibilities for the creation of such a joint venture were discussed Thursday in Sofia at the thirteenth meeting of the Bulgarian-Russian Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation.

The Varna-Port Kavkaz ferry line was formally inaugurated in March 2009 in order to boost international trade. The situation for the project has not been very favorable, however, because currently in Bulgaria auto transport appears to be cheaper than railway transportation.

Yet, freight forwarding companies from Central Asia are reported to be interested in the further development of the ferry line which gives them direct access to Europe; in addition, the project is seen by many in Bulgaria as crucial for the Bulgarian state-owned railways BDZ.

The Bulgarian and Russian delegations have also discussed the possibilities for “sea-river” transport of goods and materials using Russia’s internal river waterways.

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