History

       The story of Port of Varna started in the 6th century BC, when Greek colonists established the ancient village of Odessos - a flourishing city within the land of Thracians, later within Roman and Byzantine empires.

7th century: The city was included in the limits of the newly established State of Bulgaria. At that time it was given its present Slavonic name - Varna.

13th -14th centuries: Varna was a major port in the Kingdom of Turnovo and Dobrudga Province. These was a brisk trade with Venice, Genoa, Florence and Constantinople.

16th - 18th centuries: Varna was an important fortress owing to its strategic location and convenient bay. It was also the largest and busiest Black Sea port in the Turkish Empire.

19th century:
    1888: Bulgarian Government took a decision to build the two ports of Varna and Bourgas.

20th century:
    1906: The new port was opened for operation in the presence of HM King Ferdinand, the ministers and foreign diplomats.
    1906-1909: During this period, so called Old Canal was dredged to link the Black Sea with the lake of Varna.
    1947: Varna Port was nationalised.
    1966: The port was expanded by construction of "Moll A" quay.
    1966: Passenger Terminal was built.
    1973: Port of Varna West started operations.
    1976: The deep-water canal Sea-Lake was dredged (Canal No. 1) enabling the deep-draught vessels to visit Varna West. The same year Port of Varna Complex was established to incorporate Varna East, Varna West, Power Station, Balchik and Kavarna.
    Late 1980s: Cargo traffic peaked at 8.5 million tons, based on the trade with Soviet Union ensuring stable development of Bulgarian export.
    1990s: Decline and instability of cargo traffic, beginning of reforms and restructuring of Varna Port.
    1999: Trend of growth of cargo traffic. Modernisation process started in Varna Port.
    1999: Law on Sea Spaces, Inland Waterways and Ports in Republic of Bulgaria was enforced to provide conditions for private investments and concessions in Bulgarian ports.

21st century:
    2001: The joint venture Oiltanking Bulgaria AD built a terminal for liquid chemicals within the area of Varna West.
  2006: Concession of Balchik Port Terminal for a period of 25 years was awarded to Port Balchik AD to be effective as of 25 May 2006.  This was the first implemented concession of Bulgarian sea port.

Varna East is situated at the inner end of the Bay of Varna, at only 1 km away from the center of the city. Here the Head Office of Port Varna EAD is located and the Customs Office, the Railway Station and the headquarters of Navibulgar (Bulgarian state shipping operator) are at a walking distance. The port has excellent road and rail access and an international airport in vicinity (10 km). Moreover, Varna East is an operating link in the logistic chain canal-river-sea for the transit traffic to/from Central Europe routed via the Danubian port of Rousse. The main section of this link is the transit rail section Rousse – Varna. The port is the main gate for Bulgaria's grain export and the busiest container port in the country. The only passenger terminal along the sea route between Istanbul and Odessa is here. A special feature of Varna East is the multi-purpose use of the berths. All quays, other than the passenger ones, are used for various cargoes – general, sugar, metals, scrap, molasses; that is typical for the port. Storage Base An integral part of Varna East structure is the Storage Base, also known as the Dry Port. It is a separate unit with a license for storage under Customs regime. Located 5 km away from the port, on a total area of 13 decares, it has 6 warehouses with identical structures and capacity. It specialises in storage of all types of cereals, soya meal, cocoa and general cargo. Main Features Berths: 14 Max depth: 11.3 m Total quay length: 2,378 m Open-air storage area: 49,800 sq.m Warehouses: 41,500 sq.m Terminals: 4 (containers, passengers, grain, general cargo) Equipment Portal cranes: 28 units (up to 32T) Gantry crane: 1 unit (30.5T) Reachstackers: 2 Rail grain discharge station Quay shiploader for grain Unloading facility for molasses

Port of Varna West

Varna West is a most modern and perspective port facility at the northern Bulgarian coast. It is located 30 km west of Varna city, on the western shore of Lake Beloslav. It is adjacent to the chemical factories of Devnya town and enables direct handling according to the scheme factory-ship. The port has modern technological lines for handling of soda, fertilizers, cement, coal, ores, phosphates, silica and liquid chemicals. All port berths and warehouses are linked to the national railway network. Most of the port berths are multifunctional and are used for handling of various general cargoes: soda, fertilizers and cement in bags and big bags, metals, equipment, timber and forest products. A 100T mobile crane is in place to deal with extra heavy cargoes and pallets. Three warehouses – 3, 5 and 6 of total area of 30,000 m2 are the usual place to store general cargoes at Varna West. Main Features Berths: 18 Max depth: 11 m Total quay length: 3,223 m Open-air storage area: 191,000 sq.m Warehouses: 27,000 sq.m Terminals: 7 (containers, sulphur acid, soda, cement, coal, clinker, general cargo) Equipment Portal cranes: 27 units (up to 16T) Gantry cranes: 2 units (35T) Mobile crane: 1 unit (100T) Reachstackers: 2 Rubber belt conveyors: 3 systems Quay shiploaders for soda and fertilizers: 2 units Loading facility for sulphuric acid

 There are specific conditions for access to Varna West.  The port is located on the west shore of Varna water basin comprising the lakes of Varna and Beloslav together with the linking canals.  One way traffic is allowed in both canals (Nos. 1 and 2) with speed limitation.  Passing of vessels is possible in Varna Lake, where waiting anchorage is provided.  The air draught is also limited by the Asparuchov Bridge over canal No. 1.  All canal charges are collected by the state company "Port Infrastructure.

Main features:

Length of fairway (up to Varna West): 14 nautical miles
Transit time: 1.5 hours
Max speed: 6 knots
Max air draught: 41.5 m

Canal No. 1

Length: 2 nautical miles
Max draught: 11.5 m

Canal No. 2

Length: 5 nautical miles
Max draught: 10.5 m

Connections

Roads Port of Varna provides easy and convenient access to the national road network. It takes only a minute to get from Varna East to Asparuchov Bridge which is part of Road E-87 connecting Varna with Burgas and proceeding to the border with Turkey. The lakeside road can be used by the trucks to move quickly (10 minutes) from Varna East to other important trunk roads: the "Hemus" highway (Varna-Sofia) and Road E-70 (Varna-Russe).   Ferry       Varna is the only place in the Black Sea region which has a rail ferry terminal with possibility to change the rail car bogies from European to Russian standard and vice-versa. This is a unique advantage of this terminal offering one of the shortest and the cheapest routes for the cargo traffic between Europe and Asia. Varna Rail Ferry Complex is operated by the national shipping company Navigation Maritime Bulgare (Navibulgar) and the National Company BDZ (the Bulgarian Railways). The regular service to Ukraine and Georgia is provided by means of 4 ferry vessels with capacity 108 rail wagons or 920 trucks each. Liner Service: Varna - Ilichevsk - Varna Varna - Ilichevsk - Poti/Batumi - Ilichevsk - Varna For further information contact: Navibulgar Tel. +359 52 633 100; +359 52 603 200 Fax +359 52 600 325; +359 52 602 885 BDZ SPED Tel. +359 52 931 1496; +359 52 988 8197 Fax +359 52 981 6567

Container traffic at Port of Varna