Improvement of the transport safety in the common Bulgarian-Romanian stretch of the Danube river through development of the emergency response by cross-border cooperation

The project is developed by the partnering institutions as a result of years of joint cooperation, commonly conducted missions and bilateral activities in the Danube river basin and the cross border cooperation region Romania-Bulgaria. The Executive Agency "Maritime Administration" (EAMA) acting as a Lead partner is the central specialized authority in the field of safety and security of ships, subordinated to the Ministry of Transport of Bulgaria and is also the National Competent Authority responsible for the co-ordination of search and rescue and emergency response activities in accordance with the national legislation on the Danube River. In Romania, Ministry of Interior is supported by the Romanian Naval Authority (RNA) in search and rescue and emergency response activities on the Danube River. The present project is directly addressing and tackling a few important common challenges of the programme area related to the Danube River safety and navigability all year round. The project partners are responsible for the identification of location of accidents on the Danube River. In Bulgaria the search and rescue activities of people who may be in distress or who have been missing as well as handling of the emergency response in cases of shipping related disasters is performed by the lead partner and in Romania the beneficiary is supporting Ministry of Interior in the same field. The two institutions are often partnering and assisting for the above described activities in the common stretch of the Danube River and they often collaborate sharing all their resources and expertise. The usual activities are related to the following common issues addressed by the project: - Reaction in Ice conditions on the Danube - this phenomenon could lead to freezing to 100% of the river surface and consequently causing material damage to both the vessels and the coastal infrastructure. - Reaction in pollution of the river by oil products spill as well as other hazard and noxious substances as a result of shipping activity. Such disastrous events usually lead to contamination and water pollution in the areas of the ports and are particularly dangerous in the areas with water catchment (captivity) – source of water supply to large groups of citizen. Such unwanted events cause damage to the flora and fauna inherent in the Danube region. - Reaction in case of Emergency in transport of radioactive and toxic cargoes on the river - particularly dangerous for the transport of used or fresh enriched nuclear fuel for the needs of the nuclear power industry. - Reaction in case of Fire on board a vessel - this emergency situation can lead to human casualties and fuel-lubrication spill over board in large quantities. - Reaction in cases of Cross-border pollution - usually occurring in major accidents in neighboring Danube countries and the measures taken cover the institutions of more than one country. The overall objective of the project is to improve the safety of river Danube navigability for the whole length of the common stretch between Romania and Bulgaria through the development of common Geographical Information System for Emergency Response, supply by EAMA of specialized non-self-propelled crafts (barges) carrying emergency response equipment to be anchored across the common stretch of the river. As Romania already has such equipment this will provide even capabilities on both sides of the common stretch. RNA will supply multipurpose self propelled crafts which will be capable to reach high speed and will carry first aid equipment. The expected change our project will make is providing more coordinated actions of the two institutions; development of an IT supporting tool for information sharing and coordination which will further improve the communication and synchronization of emergency response activities on the Danube; improve the capacity of the rescue teams and shorten time for reaction in calamity events and provide more adequate and up to date equipment for more efficient rescue missions on the Danube river. The Programme outputs of the third call of Interreg Romania – Bulgaria 2014-2020 targeted by our project contributes to I3 - Number of studies, strategies and action plans to improve safety of the navigation on the Danube and the Black Sea supported and I4 - Total length of new or improved inland waterway. Management of the processes of river safety requires systematic approach including the development of harmonized system “Human factor – machine - environment”, which has to be developed so that it eliminates all possible fatalities. In our project we address the improvement of safety through harmonization of action between the partnering countries. The approach is required due to the sensitivity of the matter namely the rescue of human lives, dramatic improvement of the safety of shipping even in ice conditions and environment protection. First and most important is the relevant and up to date Geographical Information System which will provide IT support for the coordinated use of the available resources. There were many cases where the most adequate reaction of a calamity alert could be provided by an emergency response team located and operated by the country on the other side of the river. The synchronized activities in events of distress require complete picture of the resource available (it ensures most adequate expert decision and emergency response management reducing the index and percentage of fatalities). Cross-border approach is needed in order to achieve the required level of cooperation between the responsible emergency response (EAMA) and support (RNA) institutions, improve information sharing and synchronized action for improvement of the inland waterway navigability safety. Currently there is no geographic information system between Romania and Bulgaria although the two institutions need to know exactly where on the Danube stretch is located the nearest needed resource for coordination and support of emergency response. The proposed project activities are new for the region both in matter of type of equipment to be provided, Geographic Information System to be developed integrated and used in missions. The estimate budget for the project implementation improving significantly the navigability safety in the whole length of the common Bulgariamn-Romanian stretch of the Danube River of 470 km (292 mi) is 5.73 million euro.

The project is finalized. LB purchased two multipurpose non-self-propelled crafts in Bulgaria in July 2022 and one is located in Lom and the other one is located in Ruse, where were established two “Emergency response centers in Bulgaria". On 7th October 2022 was organized the final press conference on behalf of LB in Ruse, Bulgaria. B2 purchased two multipurpose and multifunctional crafts in May 2021 and one is located in Bechet and the other one is located in Giurgiu. Also, finalized the establishment of “Emergency response center in Romania” in Constanta, Romania. On 12th of October 2022 was organized the final press conference on behalf of B2 in Constanta, Romania. Within the project, the web platform: https://danubesafety.net/ was developed. On the website are provided details related to the tasks of the beneficiaries and information regarding the improvement of the safety services of naval transport. The Action Plan for Joint Emergency and Rescue Operations between the "Maritime Administration" Executive Agency and the Romanian Naval Authority in the Bulgarian-Romanian area of the Danube was developed. The joint action plan addresses the specific incidents occurring in the common Bulgarian-Romanian section of the Danube river, which requires joint actions with the use of delivered equipment under the project to LB and B2.

There is a direct and immediate link between our project and programme result indicator I7 – “Percent of the RO-BG CBC Danube length and Black Sea where safety of the navigation has been improved by joint actions”. The territorial analysis covering the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) of the Romanian-Bulgarian border region elaborated by Détente Consultants SRL as part of the drafting of the Romania-Bulgaria Cross Border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020 identifies some major issues in the region like need for improvement of navigability on Danube River, need of improvement of the safety of transport, need of measures for improvement of the transport conditions and add that “there is a need of integrated solutions such as joint traffic management (route guidance, emergency detection, etc.) and improving traffic safety measures in the region”. The present project contains activities aiming at results which will improve 100% of the common stretch of Danube River between Romania and Bulgaria. The proposed measures are based on the expertise and years of practical work in this field by experts of the partnering institutions. Our project activities, objectives and results are fully covering the programme results for one major reason and it is the knowledge and good understanding of the region as a geographic concept but at the same time the specific needs and aspects of the activity in question – safety of navigability. With the supply of very useful and highly needed by the safety experts equipment; with the development of geographic information tool for command and control; with the provision of bilateral agreement between the two countries respective institutions with extensive experience and expertise in navigation safety we secure with joint actions direct improvement of the current conditions in 100% of the RO-BG CBC Danube length. In the above cited report prepared for the Managing Authority of the RO-BG Cross Border Programme the activities our project includes namely “Improving traffic safety in the cross-border area” and “The improvement of the Danube inland waterway (e.g joint plans and measures to enhance navigation conditions)” are marked as extremely important and relevant for each national cross-border area – Bulgaria and Romania. (Marked with “+++”).