After 1965 the maritime fleet grew rapidly, and modern seaport facilities were developed. By 1989 the commercial fleet consisted of 275 vessels with a total capacity of more than 5 million deadweight tons and included 15 modern Ro-Ro ships. But the goal of the Eighth Five-Year Plan--a fleet capacity of 8 million deadweight tons by 1990--was clearly unattainable.

Constanta handled about 65 percent of marine traffic, transloading more than 52 million tons annually during the 1980s. A port-modernization program had been started in 1964, and the first Ro-Ro facility went into service in 1979. By 1988 the port was handling more than 700,000 tons of Ro-Ro cargo annually and was processing containerized, pelletized, packaged, and bulk cargoes. Construction of a new port facility--Constanta-Sud--was nearing completion in the late 1980s. Located in the town of Agigea, south of the old port, Constanta-Sud was projected to cover some 2,000 hectares. It was designed to accommodate vessels as large as 165,000 deadweight tons. When completed, the port was expected to become one of the ten largest in the world. Integrated into the national rail and highway systems, and with direct access to a major international highway, Constanta also serves as the terminus of the Danube-Black Sea Canal.

Sea-going ships as large as 12,000 deadweight tons are able to ascend the Danube as far as Galati and Braila. Mangalia, on the Black Sea south of Constanta, is a secondary seaport but is the site of the most important naval installation.

Data as of July 1989