Project
“Danube Ports Network“ (DAPhNE)
Total Project Budget: 2 985 406,15 €
Budget of Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company: 243 650 €
Beneficiary: Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company
Start of the Project: 01.01.2017
End of the Project: 30.06.2019
Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company (BPI Co.) is member of international consortium “Danube Ports Network“(DAPhNE) with Lead Partner Pro Danube International, Austria. The Project is approved for co-funding by the first call on the Transnational Cooperation Program “Danube 2014-2020“. The Project includes 14 partners from EU member States and a partner outside EU.
The main aim of the Project is to facilitate a balanced development of the Danube Ports as eco-friendly, well accessible multimodal hubs for the transport system of the region and to turn them into buzzing economic centres functioning as catalysts for economic growth and creation of high value jobs. In order to achieve this, a permanent cooperation will be secured between public and private entities along the Danube, each of them bringing in their own specific expertise: ministries, port administrations, port users, specialized consultancy firms, logistics companies and universities.
The project's mission is to establishes a well-managed working platform which tackles the most urgent insufficiencies with the help of guidelines, recommendations and concrete pilot activities based on good practices leading into an overall development strategy and action plan for the Danube ports. The activities aim to improve port legislation, funding of port investments (State Aid Schemes and PPP models), port administration processes, port business strategies as well as port infrastructure and industrial development strategies. Special attention is paid to human capacity building and eco-improvement options for the port sector. The solutions elaborated by the consortium will be shared with more than 60 Danube ports as possible blueprints by building a Danube Port Network which shall emerge into a Danube Port Network Organisation in order to ensure durability of the results and their continuous further development. Improved coordination and transnational integration achieved via pilot actions and common tools developed by private and public key stakeholders will lead to joint solutions for modernizing the Danube ports and will tap their economic potential for sustainable growth of the Danube region.
Nine out of ten countries which border the Danube are represented in the DAPhNE consortium enabling a truly transnational work approach, fostering exchange of experiences and preparing the basis of the development and implementation of widely harmonized solutions. The selected partners are key stakeholders for the future development of the Danube ports and are capable to tackle the core problems identified in the work structure and grouped into:
-port legislation and public funding;
-port administration and management, including human resources and eco-improvement for the ports sector;
-port development, focused on innovation (IT port community system, new market opportunities).
Public bodies like ministries and port authorities/administrations which provide the regulatory framework for the Danube ports joined forces with private port operators, port associations, specialized consultancy firms, logistics companies and universities. This close public - private cooperation not only ensures a wide range of expertise from different angles but also guarantees well-balanced solutions in the interest of states and industry. The partnership structure also ensures quick transferability of the elaborated strategies, pilot actions, guidelines and recommendations and full take up into the public and private sector. The cooperation of key stakeholders from peer organizations of the entire Danube region provides a sound basis for a Danube Port Network which will be enlarged and developed into an organisation to ensure durability of the output of DAPhNE as well as the further development of the Danube ports beyond the project.
Еxpected results: The implementation of the DAPhNE project will result in improved collaboration in the Danube region between public & private port sector representatives, facilitated by top management & decision support tools designed to promote and further advance IWT transport and to consolidate the position of the ports as eco-friendly multi-modal hubs. The cooperation in the region will be improved and intensified due to the set-up of the Danube Ports Network, a platform to which all stakeholders relevant for the sustainable development of the Danube ports will have access to without discrimination. Port administrations, port users, national & local authorities from the entire region will be able to sign up as members on a voluntary basis. It is expected that by the end of the project there will be approx. 120 members from all Danube riparian countries which will have free access to the DAPhNE deliverables & outputs. This network will allow participants to get in touch, transfer know-how and generate new synergies designed to further develop ports and help them reach their full potential as buzzing economic centres, while also keeping in mind their reduced environmental impact. After the project finalization, the Danube Ports Network will continue to function as a permanent independent entity whose main role will be to facilitate the communication between parties & to organize events (Port Policy Days, Port Info Days) with the purpose of strengthening the ties between the port communities.
Partners:
LP Pro Danube International AUSTRIA
ERDF PP1 Ennshafen Port AUSTRIA
ERDF PP2 iC consulenten ZT GesmbH AUSTRIA
ERDF PP3 University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria AUSTRIA
ERDF PP4 National Company The Maritime Danube Ports Administration SA Galati ROMANIA
ERDF PP5 National Company Maritime Ports Administration SA Constanta ROMANIA
ERDF PP6 Ovidius University of Constanta ROMANIA
ERDF PP7 Pro Danube Romania ROMANIA
ERDF PP8 Ministry of Transport of Romania ROMANIA
ERDF PP9 Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company BULGARIA
ERDF PP10 Public Institution Port Authority Vukovar CROATIA
ERDF PP11 RGO Communications Ltd. CROATIA
ERDF PP12 ILR Logistica Romania SRL ROMANIA
ERDF PP13 Hungarian Federation of Danube Ports HUNGARY
ERDF PP14 Public Ports, jsc SLOVAKIA
IPA PP1 Port Governance Agency SERBIA
ASP1 Container Terminal Enns AUSTRIA
ASP2 Giurgiu Municipality ROMANIA
ASP3 Port of Vienna AUSTRIA
ASP4 Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure CROATIA
ASP5 Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications BULGARIA
ASP6 Danube Logistics SRL MOLDOVA
ASP7 State Enterprise Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority UKRAINE
Project Manager: Stoian Hristov, Director of Branch-Territorial Directorate Ruse, tel: + 359 82 81 89 88, email: s.hristov@bgports.bg