Romanian ship studying the cleanliness of the Danube River docks near Bulgaria's Ruse

The Bulgarian town is the first stop on the planned trip, announced Dr. Nina Lazar, who is part of the scientific team. She explained that the goal is to collect samples from the Danube River for certain pollutants and meet with representatives of the individual countries through which the ship will pass.

There are nine specialized laboratories on board the ship that will help carry out detailed studies of the Danube River. There are systems for collecting and storing samples, as well as laboratories for radiometry, physico-chemical analyses, biodiversity monitoring and bathymetry. The results will be ready in a year at the earliest.

The project is funded by the Horizon Europe program, and its partner is the Danube River Research and Maintenance Executive Agency in Ruse.

The ship is scheduled to visit Belgrade, Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna by the end of the month.