The southeastern European nation of Romania is bound geographically by the Black Sea, Danube River, and Carpathian Mountains. It is bound politically by the states of Ukraine, Moldova, Hungary, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Its 20 million inhabitants rank it seventh in the E.U., and its capital city, Bucharest, is the sixth largest city in Europe.
Historically, Romania has shifted back and forth between being a collection of independent nations and a slave of nearby empires such as the Ottoman Turks, Austro-Hungary, and Russia. After unification as a single nation-state in the early 1900s, it soon fell victim to Nazi invasion and then to Soviet domination.
Since the fall of communism in Romania in 1989, Romania has gradually moved to a free market economy, a democratic government, and political alignment with Western powers. Its high economic growth during the 2000s led to its being dubbed “the Tiger of Eastern Europe.” The 2009 recession caused a major setback, but by 2013, the Romanian economy was again booming. Wages were rising, unemployment was low, and economic growth hit 4.1 percent.
The main exports of Romania include automobiles, computer software, textiles, machinery, electronics, and agricultural products. Industrial production rose by 6.5 percent between 2012 and 2013, and foreign investment and standards of living are on the rise. Finally, tourism is also a major industry, with skiing, Black Sea coastal resorts, and Transylvanian castles among the main attractions.
More than 41,000 miles of paved roads traverse Romania, and a new 1,400 mile long system of motorways is presently under construction. Rail lines are particularly dense, being the fourth largest in Europe at 13,855 miles. Forty-five percent of all freight and passenger transit in the country is done by rail. There are also 16 international airports, with the largest, Henri Coanda in Bucharest, handling 7.6 million passengers a year.
Sea transport accounts for 52 percent of freight movements in Romania. The main port is Constanta, which is the busiest port on the Black Sea. But there are other major seaports along the coast, at the Danube delta, and on the Danube-Black Sea Canal as well. Besides oceanic transport, Romania also sees extensive passenger and cargo movement on its more than 1,000 miles of internal waterways.
OTSFF® / OTS® has agents familiar with the infrastructure of Romania and is well equipped to arrange for the most logistically efficient methods of moving your goods into or out of Romania. Contact us today, and we can begin saving you money, time, and frustration by streamlining your Romanian freight-shipping processes.
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