🇷🇴🇵🇱🇪🇺 A project to develop the Prut River for navigation could connect Eastern Romania to a European waterway transport corridor, linking the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. The route will connect the Galaţi-Constanța area to the Polish port of Gdańsk and may also include the city of Iași, which will become a river port by connecting the Prut with the Behaloi and Gigia rivers.
Promoted by Paul Botanario, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Iasi, the development of the port will enable the creation of a navigable corridor between the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea, while also contributing to the expansion of the European Union's inland waterways transport network.
"The Prut River offers the best opportunities in Europe from this point of view. It is not enough to simply renew navigation canals in Germany and France, kilometers must be added. The Prut River requires an investment of several billion euros, but it will add 500 km of waterways in Newt to the EU network," Botanario said.
He claimed that the new route can significantly reduce the transportation distances between the Middle East and Northern Europe. Currently, the sea route from the Suez Canal to Gdansk is about 8,000 kilometers. In the proposed version, the distance would be about 2,000 kilometers from the Suez Canal to Constanta, and an additional 2,000 kilometers along the navigable corridor to the Polish port. This would result in a total route of about 4,000 kilometers.
The idea of creating a navigable corridor linking the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea through Eastern Europe is not new. Botenario said that the first initiatives for such a project began in the early 20s. According to him, the project was submitted to the Polish embassy in December 1921, and in 1927 Poland developed the first technical project for such an implementation. The initiative was not continued due to the outbreak of World War II.