|
| |
|
 Romania
the awakening giant of Europe |
Read our exclusive inteview .
|
 Constantza Port Administration
Manager:
Mr Visoianu, General Manager.
Contact:
Constantza Port Administration
Incinta port, Gara Maritima,
Constantza, Romania
Phone : 40 41 61 95 12
Fax : 40 41 61 95 12
|
Company
Profile
 Activities
The development potential of Constantza relates especially to the port activities. Due to its strategic location at the edge of the main European transport corridor
(Danube-Black Sea Canal, Rhin-Main), between the markets from th Asian region on one side, and the markets from the Central and Eastem European region on the other, Constantz has the potential to act as the Eastem Gateway of Europe. With a designed capacity of 85 million tons, Constantz ranks among the four largest European ports. City-ports are nowadays compelled to behave in a logic of competition as a consequence of the European integration unique market and free trade, as well as increasing interaction among the European cities and regions. Constantz compeets with other European city-ports in attracting companies, business, investments, cargoes. The city als compeets in attracting visitors. The present paper focuses on the connection between the port competitiveness and the city competitiveness. Th basic assumption is: the port attractiveness and the city attractiveness are twin matters. In consideration of th intemational context and the Romanian environment, the paper proposes a strategy and the appropriate actions i order to make Constantza more attractive, The strategy is based on a frame grouping the following elements: the quality of the port ifrastructure and services, as well as the quality of the port environment for business; the quality of the urban infrastructure and urban strategic services, as well as the quality of the urban environmen for business and life; the port and the urban management
Strategy
Interview with
Mr. VISOIANU,
General Manager of Constantza Port Administration
on March, 6
Q : Mr. Visoianu, there is no doubt that your administration is a leader in your sector, but could you give to our readers a brief historical background of your administration, as well as your professional background?
A : In 1996, Constantza Port celebrated 100 years from the beginning of construction works of the modern port. Its history though is more than 2000 years old when the Roman Empire founded the port of Tomis, Constantza nowadays. You may notice easily all the history that surround us.
Today's form of organisation exists from 1991. It had before other names and until 1978 it was the only operator of the entire port. In 1978 have been set up 8 commercial agencies, corresponding to the ministries, so there were 8 operators. In 1991, as I mentioned before, the Enterprise of Port Operation was transformed into Constantza Port Administration and another 5 companies. CPA looks like a port authority but it does not have all the attributes, for instance Master's Harbour activity is performed by another organisation.
There is in our administration the port infrastructure as public domain. It means hydo-technical constructions, breakwaters, quays, basins and others. The superstructure is almost entirely our propriety but we administrate only a small part of it. We have now the statute of an Autonomous Regie but when the reforms will be completed we shall become a commercial company. We shall continue to administrate the public domain but our shares will represent only our patrimonial, the superstructure I mentioned before. I think that these changes will take place this summer.
As far as my professional background is concerned i would like to mention my 20 years experience in port activities especially in international forwarding. I actually worked in the modern transportation fields, naming here international container traffic, Ro-Ro and Ferry. Besides that I worked for two main port operators in the Port of Constantza, ROMTRANS and DEZROBIREA which have hi-tech facilities and are taking care of updating their technologies. Another activity very familiar to me is custom clearance, field in which I activate a couple of years. Besides all this, I worked as ship broker and ship chandler. To conclude, I explored all port activities.
Q : Could you give us some figures regarding the financial results of last year, the traffic and the capacity of the Port of Constantza?
A : Last year profit was over 6 million US Dollars before taxes. The traffic 42.5 million tons in 1997 was a little a bit lower than in 1996 when it was 45 million tons. Being the major port of the country we can feel the pulse of economy from here. The decreasing trend is normal if we consider the reforms of the entire economy. For instance, in 1988 the traffic was over 60 million tons but then the state was buying raw materials for the enterprises. Now, companies must act on their own so they buy if they have the money. What is very important for us is to transform the Port of Constantza in a distribution centre for the neighbouring countries, the Black Sea and Central Asia. In this respect, even the traffic will continue to decrease this year, we are very happy that transit is increasing as well as container traffic.
We are making efforts to promote the port world wide and we have a brand new directorate for marketing and strategies. Mr. Bucur will be the head of this department. People must know that we exist and that we offer lots of advantages.
Q : Where are the main guidelines of your strategy for the future, also according to the policy of Romanian Minister of Transportation which wants to develop the TransEuropean Corridor IV?
A : We are integrated in TransEuropean Corridors IV, VII and IX but the most important one is corridor IV because it links Western Europe to Central Asia. That will increase the importance of the port of Constantza in the Black Sea area. We have a good infrastructure and we can operate any ship that can pass through the Bosphorus gorge. Being the biggest port in the Black Sea, Constantza is considered as an alternative. For this reason we studied the Central Asia and Transcaucasus markets and presented our offer. Some of our contacts have also been materialised and we signed agreements with ports of Poti and Batumi in Georgia (a regular shipping line will start operations at the end of this month) and Novorossiysk in Russia. The agreement with Novorossiysk concern mainly the oil transit from Russia to Central and Western Europe via Constantza. A powerful Russian oil company is buying refineries in Romania and the oil will transit the port and will be delivered to the refineries by pipes. Also the flow of general good will also increase if we take into account that in exchange for oil, Russia and Central Asian countries will import consumer goods from Europe.
In our several tours in Central Asia we presented our advantages but we are aware that we must extend our offer. That is why a LPG terminal will be build. We have started negotiations with important companies in the United States in 1997 and I can tell you that the documents for setting up a joint venture have been signed. In the joint venture two romanian companies, RomGaz and Rompetrol, are also involved. The new company will be called Black Sea LPG Terminal.
Another concern for us is the passenger traffic. We have the infrastructure but we do not have other facility. A project for a modern maritime station is on study.
Cereals trade is also important for us. World Bank itself underline the necessity of developing new storage and processing capacities in the port. We already started to build a new silo in Constantza South with a capacity of 100,000 tons. The silo will be ready for operation in July this year. it is a multifunctional silo which can store also other raw materials. Two other projects for silos are in study now as World Bank estimate a need for a capacity of 340,000 tons.
|
At last but not least, container traffic is very important for us. Our container terminal capacity is of 80,000 TEU but as the demand is increasing other companies than the container operator are dealing now with container traffic. In this respect, a new container terminal will be built in Constantza South port. We have 120 million dollars funding from Japanese government and next year will start the works. The first stage means
330,000 TEUs/year capacity and will by ready in 2001 and the final capacity will be of
800,000 TEUs/year in 2008. From the study made by World Bank, the Japanese Government consider Constantza as a distribution centre. The terminal can accommodate vessels up to
200,000 TDW. Containers can be distributed further on in the Black Sea and in Europe using inland shipping, Danube been linked to the sea by the Danube - Black Sea Canal, high standard class VII, which has its mouth inside Constantza Port. Direct transshipment from sea going vessels into barges is available. Other transportation modes e.g. rail or road, for container distribution can be used.
Q : Another aspect that is also very important for our readers is the ecological aspect. What specific activities is your administration doing in order to tackle this issue?
A : We are very concerned about environment protection. In the near future we will work with a specialised company. We have in this field negotiations with a company from Denmark, because they are the best in Europe in this area. Next year we will have the first unit of mobile ecological incinerators, with a capacity of 2,500 tones and we will set up a joint venture with this company and another company from Austria. There are a lot of things that we would like to do, but we don't have enough money. Being an Autonomous Regie, the tax to the state is 70%, not 38% like other companies pays. We will see how the Government will help us. Everybody from the Ministry said Constantza Port is very important. In fact, the Government must concrete this words with money.
Q : Constantza Port offers unique business opportunities. Our readers are interested in new business opportunities. In which areas of your activity are you interested to attract foreign investors?
A : In every field, because there is enough room for everybody in all the activities. There is no activity in which we can say everything is done. The priorities are those that I mentioned earlier. We also intend to do a connection between the city and the port because now the city has no authority over the port and this thing must be corrected in the future. We also intend to do business centre here that will provide business facilities to the town and to the port. We can develop this way a lot of new activities, because some of the exiting ones use old technology and they cannot be efficient in the future.
Q : As we say in the United States, contacts means often contracts. What will you do to encourage greater contacts?
A : We are very opened for everybody, we already created that marketing department and in every meeting we have with business men we have good discussion and we present the opportunities of Constantza Port. Also, with your support, many people who hear about us can get in touch, as we can cooperate and I repeat that we don't have enough funding for the opportunities that the Port of Constantza are offering.
Q : How did you contacted those three American companies that you formed a joint-venture with?
A : We have participate to many conferences in the United States, some of them dealing with port business some of them being investment forums. People heard about our projects and express their willingness to invest. We had many contacts with them in Bucharest and Constantza and despite the delays (on of the romanian companies Rompetrol, was newly established) the papers were signed.
Q : How much capital are they going to inject in the company?
A : It is not yet settled because firstly we must make a feasibility study and after that we will know exactly.
Q : How confident are you for the future of your country?
A : I'm very confident in the future and that the path we are on now has no return. It doesn't matter the small political fights that might occur, the most important thing is our government commitment to build a reliable market economy. And this is the reality.
Q : What will be your best satisfaction as General Manager of Constantza Port Administration?
A : The big satisfaction will be when we will finish our projects for container, passengers, LPG and cereals terminals, and when the connection between the town and the port will be for real.
Q: As a final issue, what will be your final message to our readers?
A : Well, it will be nice for them to think that here they may have real partners, highly skilled workers and a friendly environment. Despite all the difficulties of a transition period, we are confident in the future and invite them to join us for a shared benefit.
Comments of Mr. Aurel CARP,
Advisor to the General Manager
and Mr. Ionic BUCUR,
Manager Marketing, Port Policies and Public Relations
Our strategy is built on the opportunity of the port, which is at the cross of all the commercial routes in the region. The second important element is our infrastructure. The highest level of the traffic was in 1988 with 63 million tones and the lowest level in
1992 with 23 million tones. After 1993 we recovered up to 45 million tones and in 1997 we had about 42.5 million tones
Constantza is a multifunctional port, where can be handled all king of cargo. The main terminals are for oil, with a capacity of the 24 million tones per year and another 12 million for oil products. Another important facility is for cereals. The actual one covers around 90,000 tones. We also have a very big terminal for cement, because we are exporting very much cement. We have also good facilities for chemicals, fertilisers and so on. Constantza has also a shipyard, one of the biggest in Europe, managed by a state company which will be privatized soon. They are working especially for foreign contracts and are exporting to South Africa, South Korea, Japan, Belgium.
Another opportunity for us is represented by the changes that are taking place in the area and I am speaking especially about the Caspian region, with a big potential for raw materials.
In order to valorise this potential we established a strategy to develop Constantza as a distribution centre for this region. We are trying to play the same role that Rotterdam is playing in the Western Europe. We will make the links between two different regions, the Middle East and the Caspian region, but not only. In order to achieve this strategic objective, taking in consideration that we already have big infrastructure, we are working to improve its quality. We have projects to improve the port services, which means handling activities provided by independent companies and also some other services like water supply, garbage collection and so on. We also have projects for the improvement on the port business environment, which is very important.
Another matter is the basic services and facilities for business. We want to build in the oldest part of the port an interface between the port and the town and this is where these facilities will be. The idea is ours, but we are looking for partners to finalise it.
The Free Trade and Processing Zone is another facility in order to get more foreign investment in Romania. This area is managed by another Autonomous Regie, belonging to the Ministry of Transport. The companies which are investing in this area don't have to pay usually taxes. Another mission of this Free Zone is to facilitate the local and regional development, because many other activities will be attracted here this way. |
© World INvestment NEws, 1998.
This is the electronic edition of the special country report on Romania
published in FORBES
Magazine's enriched with complementary information,
such as full interviews, detailed company files and more.
June 1 st 1998 issue
Developed by AgenciaE.Tv |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
