Southeast Europe News

Cosmos Van Oord, a joint venture (JV) of Cosmos Shipping and Van Oord, has been awarded a dredging project at Port of Burgas, the biggest port in Bulgaria.The project is part of the construction of a new deep-water berth at terminal Burgas-West in the Port of Burgas. This will establish a dedicated port zone for container handling and storage, and introduce eco-friendly methods for efficiently transferring cargo between ships and railways in both directions.Van Oord’s scope of work contains the dredging of the port area to the required depth of 15.5 meters.

Classification society Bureau Veritas (BV) said it is working with Laskaridis Shipping and smart tool provider METIS Cyberspace Technology on a pilot project to develop and apply a new BV SMART 3 Class notation covering the use of augmented data in ship operations.Modern ships increasingly use smart systems designed to improve their operational efficiency. As part of its strategy to support maritime digitalization, BV has developed a framework of SMART notations for ships which provide consistent and uniform standards for the ‘smart’ techniques used to monitor and improve fleet performance.

Bureau Veritas (BV) announced the development of a new notation, CII REALTIME, supporting shipowners to provide reliable and up to date data related to DCS and CII of their ships/fleet in a simplified and consistent process.Shipowners have less than a year to prepare their vessels to comply before the new EEXI and CII regulations come into effect, on January 1, 2023. BV Noted monitoring the evolution of the CII during the year can helpavoid any surprises with the ship’s energy rating and to make early and informed decisions on operational measures. Danaos Management Consultants S.A.

Bulgartransgaz, the operator of the national natural gas transmission network of Bulgaria, has officially taken a 20% share in Greek company Gastrade that is developing an LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) offshore Alexandroupolis. The agreement for Bulgartransgaz to take a 20 percent stake in Gastrade was signed back in August 2020. Following the approval granted by the Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition, the transaction became effective on Thursday, January 28.

Bulgaria's state-owned gas company Bulgargaz will reserve 500 million cubic gas annually for 10 years at the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal now being built in northern Greece, the government said on Tuesday.Greek natural gas company Gastrade, which handles the project near the city of Alexandoupolis, has extended the deadline for companies to file binding bids to reserve capacity to March 20.The LNG terminal, in which Bulgaria will have a 20% stake, seeks to supply gas to southeast Europe via a natural gas pipeline that will cross through Greece…

A consortium led by Hill International has won a contract from Thessaloniki Port Authority (THPA) in Greece to support major expansion works at Thessaloniki port.Hill International, a player in managing construction risk, announced that it has signed an agreement with THPA as leader of a consortium including Rogan Associates SA, to provide design and project management services for the planned expansion of the marine works infrastructure of Pier 6.The Port of Thessaloniki is the most important port of Northern Greece and a key transportation hub for Southeast Europe as a part of the Core Network of the Trans-European Transport Network.It occupies a total area of approximately 1.5 million square meters and hosts a variety of activities…

The Greek shipping community is confident that Greece can be a maritime center in near term, said a research report. A study -‘repositioning Greece as a global maritime capital' - conducted by  Ernest & Young in cooperation with Aegean University professor Thanos Pallis said that Greece, especially the port of Piraeus, is viewed as future competitors of Asia’s aggressive shipping hubs in the coming decade. The study gauging the views and forecasts of 779 Greek shipping executives revealed that the most attractive and comprehensive framework among  shipping hubs or “clusters” today is Piraeus, Greece’s biggest port. The executives believe that its enhancement would strengthen their business – in spite of the the growing attractiveness of competing maritime centers.

Adriatic Gate Container Terminal (AGCT), International Container Terminal Services, Inc.’s (ICTSI) container handling facility in the Port of Rijeka, Croatia, recently serviced the largest vessel to call in the country, the 10,000 TEU-capacity Gerda Maersk. The 367-meter Gerda Maersk, is part of the 2M Alliance by two of the world’s megaliners Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co. The alliance, which connects Rijeka and the Far East, deploys 15 vessels with average capacities of 9,600 to 11,300 TEUs. The service starts from the US West Coast and passes through the Pacific, making regular port calls in Busan, South Korea and key ports in the Far East…

Statkraft and Norfund have signed an agreement expressing their intention to restructure and prolong their cooperation within renewable energy. The aim, they said, is to create a leading international hydropower cluster, based on assets from Statkraft, SN Power and Agua Imara. The parties have agreed with binding effect that Norfund's option to sell its shares in SN Power to Statkraft in Q4 2013 is postponed to Q2 2014. The agreement contains the framework for future ownership structure and cooperation. The aim is to reach final and binding agreements by the end of Q4 2013, prolonging the companies' strategic cooperation in renewable energy with a strong focus on hydropower in emerging markets.