June 29 (BTA) - Shipping along the Danube is picking up after the passage of the big pandemic wave, Valentin Hristov, head of the Danube River Shipping Directorate in Rousse, said on June 29 marked as the World Danube Day. Hе said business is picking up as well in cargo and logistics companies.

The first two cruise ships for this year paid a port call in Rousse several days ago and Hristov said port calls are expected to increase as the summer advances.

"More and more ships are sailing along the Danube," Hristov said. The waterway in the Bulgarian stretch of the river has improved after the dredging works done by the Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the River Danube. There are no problems with the navigation now.

Hristov said that the pandemic and the restrictions it brought last year reduced by 10-15 per cent the calls by cargo ships at the Bulgarian ports along the Danube while there was no cruise season to speak of.

The World Danube Day was marked in Rousse with an event organized by the State Port Infrastructure Enterprise and held in front of the Centre for River Information Services which also is the hub for river traffic control along the entire Bulgarian section of the Danube. The winners of a children's poetic competition entitled "The Danube and Rousse in My Soul" received their awards at a special ceremony.

The Danube River Protection Convention, which forms the overall legal instrument for co-operation on transboundary water management in the Danube River Basin, was signed on June 29, 1994 in Sofia. RI/ZH



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