Port Belene NPP is located on the right bank of the Danube, at river km 567. It was built as a part of a nuclear power plant which was never operational. The port has the biggest lifting capacity in the Lower Danube with up to 480 tons per unit.
Bon Marine Logistics Varna S.A., a subsidiary of Bon Marine Logistics Ltd. has been operating the heavy lift Danube port Belene NPP since October 2008 and has made important renovation work in order to make the port fully operational.  

In the last two years, several successful transhipments of heavy and oversized cargo have taken place in the port. A 364 ton reactor and four steam generators, weighing 380 tons each were loaded onto a river-sea vessel with a maximum capacity of 3,000 tons. The cargo was transported eastbound to Nizhniy Novgorod, a Russian Port located on the Volga River. Since both the ports of Belene and of Nizhniy Novgorod can be reached with river-sea vessels, the cargo did not need to be transhipped during its long route along the Danube, the Black Sea, and the Volga. This contributed to significant savings in time and costs.

The port of Belene is also suitable for the transport of heavy and oversized cargo westbound. Using the Rhine-Main-Danube axes, countries in Western Europe such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and even Great Britain can be reached from the port. This route is currently used for the shipments of 5 x 62 tons transformers from Belene to Great Britain. The first lot of 3 units was shipped a few months ago; the remaining cargo is scheduled for sailing in mid August. The transformers were first shipped from Belene via inland barge to Rotterdam where the cargo was transhipped to a sea-going vessel and shipped to the final port of destination in the UK.
For more information on the Port of Belene please visit: www.port-belene.bg and www.danubeports.info