Sometimes I find myself on Google Maps scrolling without any intent – just to see if I can find interesting border anomalies, lakes I had no idea existed, roads or bridges under construction…I’ll next find myself spending hours down a Wikipedia rathole, clicking link after link. This post does not start with a map I found as my other posts have – it starts with the Google Map image that caused me to look into it more!
This is exactly how I found the Giurgiulesti International Free Port in Moldova.
Where we are in the world
I was looking on Google Maps around the Black Sea/Crimea region in Eastern Europe because it has been in the news so much recently with the on-going Ukraine-Russia conflict.
After aimlessly scrolling around the region a bit, I came across a small Moldovan port town named Giurgiulesti on the Danube River. It jumped out to me because Moldova’s borders seemed very intentionally drawn to allow Moldova access to the Danube River around what normally would have been Ukraine’s territory.
According to sources, this was due to a treaty/agreement between the Governments of Ukraine and Moldova which included an exchange of the stretch of land on the Danube (Giurgiulesti) for a portion of highway on the opposite side of the country.
Here is what I found!
Note: the Giurgiulesti Port is noted by the “boat” icon in the map above; the Palanka highway is noted by the “check” icon in the map above
Three key facts about this map
In 1999, Ukraine transferred the ~.5 mile stretch of the Danube River to Moldova
Moldova is a landlocked country surrounded completely by Ukraine and Romania. The Danube River is the only stretch of water close by to provide access to the Black Sea (and international shipping channels). The town of Giurgiulesti formed the southern-most point of Moldova, while Ukraine controlled the narrow strip of land with access to the Danube.
In 1999, Ukraine and Moldova signed a treaty that ceded access to that ~0.5 miles of land from Ukraine to Moldova, allowing the previously landlocked country access to the Danube shipping lanes.
One of the reasons for the transfer was to reduce Moldova’s reliance on Russian energy
The stretch of land at Giurgiulesti is home to Moldova’s only oil imports terminal. One of the major reasons for the transfer of the Danube River access was to reduce the reliance on Russian oil imports into the country. Now, Moldova has access to international imports of oil via shipping instead of pipelines from Russia via Ukraine.
In exchange, Ukraine received free-transit on a 7km stretch of highway in western Moldova
In exchange for the port, Moldova agreed to cede access of a 7km stretch of highway connecting 2 parts of Ukraine that bisects Moldovan territory. Near the Moldovan town of Palanka (marked in the Google Map above with a check mark) is a stretch of the E87 highway that cuts through Moldova.
Per the agreement between the two countries, Ukraine received free-transit “pass through” access to this highway so as to not impede travelling from one part of Ukraine to another with border crossings.
As you can see in the Google Map above, there is a border station situated at the spur of the R52 road, which seems to be the “official” border station into/out of Moldova.
Additional links and sources
- Article about the issue of the Palanka stretch of road being “closed” (link, published in 2018)
- Background publication on the original 1999 treaty, and other items included (link, published in 1999)
- Plans to increase oil import capacity at the Giurgiulești port (link, published in 2009)
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