The space underneath the Peljesac bridge is so big, ships twice the size the biggest ship that ever docked in the Neum bay can dock through, easily, captain of the Neum bay Harbour Master Stojan Sutalo told N1 on Friday.
According to the international manual used by sailors to dock in all urban and non-urban areas in the world, the largest ships that can dock in the Neum bay are those with a five-metre draft or are 100 metres in lengths. Sutalo told N1 that the largest boat registered by their Harbour Master's Office was 12 metres in length.
“The Master Harbour Office overseeing this area registered some 200 vessels, but not all are in Neum. They span from Montenegro to Istra in the north of Adriatic coast. They are owned by Bosnian citizens who register their boats here but vacation elsewhere,” he noted.
The last time a ship close to 100 metres long docked in the Neum bay was in 2003 and Harbour Master Sutalo said that after the wind started blowing the ship's crew fled the bay.
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“The USS Nicholas which was some 100 metres long, docked in Neum in 2003 and anchored there. After the winds started blowing at night, they fled the bay,” he said.
The Peljesac Bridge, which will be built by the Chinese consortium China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), is intended to connect the Croatian mainland to the Peljesac peninsula.
It aims to bypass the 15-kilometre-long coastal strip around the town of Neum that belongs to Bosnia and Herzegovina and is Bosnia's only access to the Adriatic sea. The bridge aims to improve road traffic links between the Dubrovnik area and the rest of the country by circumventing customs and border controls around Neum.
Sutalo explained that when the ship anchors, it must drop the anchor chain four times its length so it could circle the anchor point undisturbed. Due to hurricane winds blowing this bay, the ship could have beached.
He also stressed that even though Bosnia has no large ships, there is also no State Law on Water Traffic.
