Danube-Black Sea Canal is a waterway in the county of Constanta, Romania, connecting the ports of Constanta and Cernavoda on the Danube south of the Black Sea port of Constanta to shorten the road to approximately 400km. The channel is part of the important European waterway between the Black Sea and North Sea (the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal).



Plans to build this channel existed since the nineteenth century. Since the annexation of Dobrudja to Romania in 1878, began to be circulated the idea of a fourth arm of the Danube, this time artificially to shorten the road to the Black Sea. The technical conditions of the time were that such performance is extremely difficult and costly, so the King Carol I, realistically, refused to get involved in this project. Later, Charles II and he courted the idea of the channel, but the global economic crisis and then the beginning of the Second World War made the realization to be postponed sine die.



Canal construction began in 1949, many workers are political prisoners in prison. Work was suspended in 1955 and resumed only in 1975. The canal was inaugurated Saturday, May 26, 1984 by Nicolae Ceaužescu. Were excavated about 300 million m3 (25 million more than the Suez Canal and 140 million more than the Panama Canal) and were 3.6 million m3 of concrete poured.

With a length of 64 km, a depth of 7 m, a width of 70 m and based on the area of 110-140 m, the channel has a maximum capacity to transport 75 million tonnes of cargo. Maximum draft allowed is 5.5 m allowing ships access to the river and small sea. At each end there are two locks that allow traffic in both directions. Channel crossing places Cernavoda Saligny, Mircea Voda, Satu Nou, Medgidia, Castelu, White Gate. This channel fork. Northern Branch (White Poarta Midia Navodari) through Nazarcea, Constanta, Ovidiu and Navodari. Branch south through Bessarabia and Agigea.

Building the canal required an investment of about $ 2 billion. Initial estimates provided for the recovery of investment in 50 years. Channel operation without annual income but about 3 million euros, implying a payback period of more than 600 years.