The two new coastal centers in Varna and Burgas are already monitoring the whole maritime border of Bulgaria, said the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Ivaylo Moskovski during the opening of the coastal center for traffic management in Varna. The event was attended by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the Minister of Youth and Sports Krassen Kralev, the Mayor of Varna Ivan Portnih, the Governor of Varna Stoyan Pasev, the Director General of Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company Angel Zaburtov, representatives of central and local authorities, guests and citizens of the city and other officials.

The construction of the two coastal towers in Varna and Burgas will increase the working efficiency of the specialized agencies and the Navy, said Minister Moskovski. In a month the coastal center for vessel traffic management along the Danube will be commissioned and thus the whole cycle will be completed, he added. Then all of Bulgaria’s water borders will be monitored by the competent institutions - Coast Guard, Combating Organized Crime Department and the Interior Ministry to prevent smuggling by sea and river, added Moskovski

A vessel traffic management center will be located at Varna Coastal Center - VTS Center Varna, to monitor and direct the ship traffic north of Cape Emine and maintain a constant exchange of information with Burgas Coastal Center.

The building will host the operational center of the Bulgarian part of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System - GMDSS Operating Center. They will carry out all communications as our country has committed under the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS Convention). In cases of emergency, the activity can be undertaken by special workstation at Burgas Coastal Center.

The construction of coastal centers for shipping information services in Varna and Burgas is financed by the Operational Programme "Transport" 2007 - 2013 under the project " Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS) - Lot 3". The value of the whole project is almost 40 million levs and the construction of two coastal centers is worth about 4 million levs.

After opening Varna Coastal Centre together with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Minister Moskovski attended the opening of a new classroom at "Nikola Vaptsarov" Naval Academy, where a simulator for ship management in any kind of natural climate conditions was demonstrated. The simulator is unique to Bulgaria and marine mechanics and future captains can get into any real situation that sea navigation offers. Representatives of the Naval Academy acquainted the guests with two more simulators, one of which allows for the monitoring of the entire Bulgarian coast and the other helps tackle all the ship management tasks.

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