Seaport Consultants Canada Inc. provided port management expertise to assess the impact of a new bulk terminal on the future operations of the port. Seaport also evaluated options for the transfer of cargo handling activities from Port of Bourgas Authority, a public corporation, to the private sector as operating concessions.

The work included:

• Evaluating the ability of Bourgas Port (the model port for privatization in Bulgaria) to achieve a competitive environment with private sector participation

• Evaluating the port privatization policies of the Government of Bulgaria and providing assistance to the Government to assess the options for private sector participation in ports

• Advising the Government of Bulgaria on regulatory changes to facilitate private sector participation and to implement a uniform strategy for the privatization of port activities at all Bulgarian ports

• Identifying areas of improvement within Bourgas Port necessary as a prelude to privatization and recommending the scope of activities for private sector involvement in line with the government’s privatization policies

• Evaluating the options for breaking up the port into port concession packages, and selecting and recommending the port concession packages to be privatized

• Developing a privatization strategy and a roadmap of the process to be followed by the Government of Bulgaria to achieve the transformation of port activities into port concessions to be operated by the private sector