Bulgarian Ports
Infrastructure Company

The ways of functioning and the specifics of using the vessel traffic and information services integrated system were presented by the Head of the Vessel Traffic Management Department – Varna to BPI Co. Mr. Milen Todorov on April 19, 2018 in Sofia during the regional seminar Space-based services for regional strategies in the digital economy: Balkan & Black Sea Perspectives. The event, included in the calendar of the Bulgarian presidency of the EU Council, was organized by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Ministry of Environment and the Institute of Space Research and Technology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Experts and Specialists from different sectors (administration, science, education, business, non-governmental sector) greatly appreciated the fact that thanks to the integrated information system for vessel traffic management and information services for shipping, Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Co. not only provides information and navigation assistance services of the nautical traffic in the maritime areas of the Republic of Bulgaria, but it also improves the safety of shipping and environmental protection. Mr. Milen Todorov acquainted the audience with the services provided by BPI Co. to shipowners and coastal services related to the processing of ship’s documentation electronically in order to facilitate administrative decisions and as a result to improve the efficiency of ports and the industry as a whole.

Bulgaria is the first country in the Black Sea region to build an integrated information system for vessel traffic management and information services for shipping. The system consists of multiple sites with remote control equipment, electronic navigation system Navi Harbour, digital information system for electronic document circulation EDCDIS, digital information system for planning manoeuvres in the ports MOVER, the Bulgaria segment of the global distress and safety system (GMDSS) and two VTMIS Coastal centres.