Bulgaria. Regime maritime transport in the TRACECA region under the COVID-19 pandemic as of April 15, 2020

In practice, in ports of Bulgaria there is no direct requirement for vessels to undergo a 14-day quarantine on the roadstead. There are no services that can carry out the disinfection on board.

Crews are not allowed to go on shore, and all crew/passenger contacts must be reduced to the necessary minimum for up to 14 days. Unloading and repair operations are allowed under condition of the minimal contact with the vessel 's crew and the mandatory presence of personal protective equipment.

In the context of incoming vessels China, Italy, Iran and Korea are considered the " risk zones ". Checks on board are carried out by border sanitary inspections.

Under the state of emergency imposed in Bulgaria, state environmental control of vessels will be carried out remotely, mainly through the National Maritime Single Window (NMSO).

Regular physical state environmental inspections and so-called "sulphur inspections" (to control the content of sulphur in marine fuel) on vessels in ports are temporarily suspended.

Checks are not carried out on boards of vessels arriving from the high-risk countries, or if there are one or more persons (crew members or passengers) infected with COVID-19 on board, or persons who have lived in or visited the high-risk countries in the last 30 days prior to arrival in a port of Bulgaria, and there is reason to suspect that they may be infected.

Physical inspections on vessels can be carried out at the request of a foreign authority, when a signal is received about pollution of the water area by a vessel, or when violations are found in documents submitted in a Single Window.

At the same time, control over the documents of vessels entering the ports of Bulgaria will be strengthened. At discretion of the inspectors may be requested to provide additional copies of vessel certificates, plans, logbooks, photos, etc.

More detailed information can be found at the link:
https://sudohodstvo.org/karantin-na-chernom-more/ 

The information provided is relevant at the time of publication and may be subject to changes in the future.