The Ambassador of the Netherlands to Bulgaria HE Beat Ten Tasher officially named the new dredger of the Executive agency "Exploration and maintenance of the Danube river" during a ceremony held in Ruse. She wished for a fair wind after, according to tradition, smashed a bottle of champagne in the "Yantra" hull.
"The dredger "Yantra" is the first specialized vessel of its kind to be included in the assets of the Danube Agency, and the new dredging equipment will enable the EAEMDR to efficiently and timely fulfill its obligations for the maintenance of the waterway. The goal is to preserve the required depths of the river according to the recommendations of the Danube Commission", said in her address Deputy Minister Andreeva. She reminded that Bulgaria is maintaining one of the most difficult in terms of navigation sections of the river, while the Agency currently does not have its own equipment to carry out this specific activity. "It is for this reason that from 2017 until now, the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications has provided over BGN 16 million for dredging. With the purchase of the new specialized equipment, the process will be optimized and the costs will be reduced", said Nelly Andreeva. The vessel was delivered under the project “Modernization and optimization of the maintenance activities in the common BG-RO section of the Danube river through delivery of equipment”, funded by the Operational Programme "Transport and Transport Infrastructure" 2014 - 2020.
The dredger "Yantra" was built by the Dutch shipyard Damen Gorinchem. The construction was completed in less than 10 months. The facility arrived in Ruse, crossing 3,000 kilometers along the Rhine-Main-Danube canal in 26 days. In the days after arrival, training was conducted by specialists from the company - a crew member who will work on the dredger.
