February 9, 2022 - The Jadroplov electric ferry, the first large Croatian ship to transport 1,000 passengers and 156 cars without the emission of harmful gases, could sail in 2024. 

Sometime in the spring, the construction of an electric ferry could begin in one of the Croatian shipyards. It would be the first of its kind in Croatia - without harmful gases. The project documentation is nearing completion, with all calculations and model tests.

The prototype was designed by the Split company "Classis." Predrag Čudina, a ship designer with forty years of experience, told Slobodna Dalmacija more. 

"The ship will be built for Split's "Jadroplov," with which we have signed a contract for the development of the project. So far, several electric boats have been built in Croatia, but we are talking about the first large Croatian ship to transport a thousand passengers and 156 cars, or about twenty buses and trucks and 89 small vehicles. It is a closed ferry. For the sake of comparison, it is bigger than "Petar Hektorović" from Jadrolinija's fleet."

When can we expect to see it in action?

"The project should be ready for the shipyard already in March. And it usually takes two years to build a prototype. So, "Jadroplov" could have this ship as early as 2024 if there are no problems with shipbuilders' contracts, and we are counting on domestic shipyards."

How much would this ferry cost?

"It is difficult to project, but roughly 30 million euros."

Which lines would it run?

"All lines to the central Dalmatian islands, equally those closer and further away, such as Vis or Korcula, not to mention Hvar, Brac or Solta. Of course, it can be done in any other area, but this is the closest to us. For example, the line from Split to Supetar or Rogač can be maintained six times a day in both directions without recharging the battery station. Or, three cruises a day between Split and Stari Grad, or twice to Vis or Vela Luka and back. All with one night charge, since there is less load on the electricity grid at night, and electricity is cheaper."

Where would the ferry charge?

"The port of Split has a capacity of about ten megawatts, which would be enough to charge three ships at night. Then, of course, a filling station should be built, which should not be a problem in Split, given the existing capacity of the network. Then, finally, three or four megawatts of power should be provided for islands, equivalent to the power needed for 400 households. So it’s not something that should be a problem at night."

How much does it cost, and how long would it charge?

"24 or 25 megawatts are consumed during the day. This means that if we want to charge the batteries in five hours, we need to have a five-megawatt port. If we charge it for eight hours, then three megawatts of power is enough."

There is no filling station at the ports. Who would build them?

"Preparatory meetings are already taking place; State bodies, the County Port Authority, and the Split Port Authority are also seriously interested in constructing these stations. So naturally, it counts on financing plants with European money."

What is the projected capacity of the batteries?

"We have decided for a larger capacity battery. It is more expensive but extends battery life. Today's lithium-ion can withstand six or seven thousand charge and discharge cycles, or twenty years. If you charge it once a day, the battery will be good for two decades. Charging it five times a day will shorten its life to five years. It is also important that the ferry is completely autonomous during the day and can be tied to any berth in Split. It doesn’t have to go to one that has a charging port."

What are the advantages over a classic ferry?

"The advantage is zero gas emissions, which is imperative today. And the math is good: lithium-ion battery plants have become ten times cheaper in the last ten years, so today, their price is roughly comparable to the cost of a diesel marine plant. Moreover, they usually come from China or Korea. So, this electric ferry should not be more expensive than the classic one. And the price of a night kilowatt-hour of electricity is up to three times cheaper than a kilowatt-hour from a diesel engine.

In short, for the same sailing speed, the cost of propulsion energy will be several times less than a comparable diesel ship. Of course, maintaining an electric drive is simpler and cheaper than diesel, but it is also less often needed."

How will the islanders accept an electric boat?

"Here are the arguments: passengers will come to the island or the coast faster and more comfortably. The speed of the ferry is about 15 knots in service. There will be no exhaust on the sun deck, it will have air-conditioned saloons, a bow and a stern ramp for vehicles, so there will be no need to maneuver on board, which is time-consuming. The garage will not be below the main deck, but on it, with two platforms on the side, and there will be no vehicle entry under the deck.

The voyage to Supetar will be fifteen minutes shorter and to Stari Grad up to half an hour, compared to the ships that now maintain these lines. Even bad winter weather should not affect navigation. It has been designed with two swivel stern propulsors and one bow thruster, which allows it to have decisive maneuverability."

Where else are these ships built?

"In Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden when we talk about Europe, but also in Japan. This niche market will be further developed, especially concerning environmental directives on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. So why not be a part of it: to have our projects and shipyards that can build such ships for domestic and foreign clients."

Is there money for such projects?

"The recovery and resilience plan, which we hear so much about, probably assumes that the allocated European money in Croatia will be spent on the recovery of the Croatian economy. The current recovery plan includes purchasing three passenger ships and three double hulls. It would be natural for them to be built on Croatian slipways and for some domestic shipyards to master the ability to construct double hulls. To employ our capacities, not just buy abroad.

State Secretary at the Ministry of the Sea Josip Bilaver said at the celebration of Seafarers' Day in December last year that the European Commission will not allow the spending of the mentioned money to construct ships that have harmful emissions. Therefore, diesel or hybrid drives would not be considered."

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 20 May 2021 - A total of 11.3 million passengers were transported in Croatia by all means of transport in the first three months of 2021, which is around 5.2 million fewer passengers or a 31.4% drop from the same period of 2020, while the transport of commodities dropped by 4.5% to close to 28 million tonnes.

According to preliminary figures released by the national statistical office, in Q1 the most passengers, 7 million, were transported by bus, a drop of 32% compared to Q1 2020.

As for the transport of goods, 18 million of the 28 million tonnes of commodities were transported by road, a 7.4% drop from Q1 2020.

Goods were also transported by ship, with 4.2 million tonnes of commodities transported that way, which is as much as 12% more than in Q1 2020.

Three and a half million tonnes of goods were transported by rail, 3.6% down from Q1 2020, while transport via inland waterways saw a drop of 17% compared to Q1 2020, to 948,000 tonnes.

Around two million tonnes of goods were transported by pipelines.

As for air transport, 298 tonnes of goods were transported by plane in Q1 2021, a 41% drop from the same period as last year.

For more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

As Morski writes on the 7th of July, 2019, after a very long time, a ship from Rijeka could soon sail on a new, certain line. It was five years ago, more precisely 2014, when the Liburnija vessel was sailing on this coastal route.

Five years on from 2014, and certain things are very different indeed in many parts of and across many segments of life in Croatia, the market has been well and truly liberalised, which hasn't always been met with positivity, but that very same liberalised market now offers foreign ship companies the ability to maintain Croatian lines. This new Rijeka line, which will carry out the service between Rijeka and Porozina (the island of Cres) is just one example of that.

Owing to the aforementioned, this weekend, from Messina, Italy, the Giuseppe Franza ship owned by the Caronte & Tourist carrier took to Croatian waters. From unofficial sources, the portal Brodovi u Rijeci (Ships in Rijeka) reports that the ship will be engaged on the line between Rijeka and Porozina for two months, from the 15th of July to the 15th of September, 2019.

The Coastal shipping agency has since confirmed that the aforementioned Italian shipping company had applied to run this line without public service on the Rijeka-Porozina route and vice versa. However, it has not yet obtained all the approvals and permits to do so, and only after the collection of all of the documentation can the conclusion of the contract begin, as they state from the competent agency.

The search for the ship's crew of the ship appeared on the Internet.

If everything is fine with the documentation, Rijeka will soon (possibly from the 15th of July) be directly connected with Porozina thanks to the Italian Giuseppe Franza ship, which was built in 1993 in Italy. It is 114 metres long and 17 metres wide, it boasts two ramps that allow a quick flow of vehicles and it can accommodate 600 passengers and 120 cars.

Make sure to follow our dedicated travel page for much more.

As Morski writes on the 19th of January, 2019, solving island ferry connections in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, especially the fast-freight and ferry connections for Vela Luka in Korčula and Lastovo, was the subject of a meeting initiated by the parliamentary representative Branko Bačić with the heads of Dubrovnik-Neretva County.

County Prefect Nikola Dobroslavić initially emphasised the problems of the lack of appropriate vessels, praised the upcoming investments in port infrastructure, and seized the opportunity to discuss the upcoming daily connection between Dubrovnik and the island of Lastovo.

''Dubrovnik-Neretva County has already prepared eight funding projects from EU funds, ie through the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, and this is a great success. As far as boat connections are concerned, they're better than they were before, but there are still faults to be found. The priority is to connect Lastovo with the county centre of Dubrovnik. This is a project that should have been realised a long time ago, but it's positive that we're finally close to sorting it out,'' said the prefect, adding that everything should be done to make sure that children from Lastovo can keep going to high school in their county, more precisely on Korčula, and that the construction of pupil accommodation on Korčula is something that is indispensable. He stressed that a decision to co-finance the project should be made at the upcoming session of the Croatian Government in Dubrovnik.

Parliamentary Representative Branko Bačić said that he initiated this meeting in order to reach an agreement between Dubrovnik-Neretva County, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, and Jadrolinija for the drafting of a better connection between the southern Dalmatian islands of Korčula and Lastovo, and to find a solution for the ferry service for the Split - Ubli line.

"We have to consider all the possibilities, and I still think the most realistic option is to purchase a ship of a higher capacity and a higher speed than the ships we've been using so far on that line, and to do that for as long as we don't manage to build a new ship,'' Bačić said.

The managing director of Jadrolinija announced that the company intends to purchase a second-hand ship, that there is a possibility that they still need to run some checks on, but that he wanted to hear from the representatives of the islands or the local self-government unit.

The Mayor and those from the administration, as well as participants of the meeting agreed that the purchase of a ship was the only realistic possibility at this time, as well as to take on the construction of a new ship for that line. They also demanded that the Jelena catamaran be permanently left to operate on the Split - Ubli line.

The director of the coastal maritime transport agency, Paula Vidović, stressed that maintaining the line for Lastovo at an annual level costs about 41 million kuna out of the total cost of maintaining all the lines, which amounts to about 320 million kuna.

Four major conclusions were agreed upon at the meeting:

1. It is necessary that Jadrolinija immediately looks to purchase a ship for the Split-Vela Luka-Lastovo line and continues to build a new ship for the same line.

2. There is full support for the construction of eight local and county-level ports in the area of ​​Dubrovnik-Neretva County.

3. It was established that the Jelena catamaran, which has all of the necessary maritime capabilities alone, is permanently kept on the Split-Vela Luka-Lastovo line.

4. It is also necessary to turn the Dubrovnik-Lastovo line, for which the Government has already given its consent, into an everyday route to ensure a better connection between Lastovo with the centre of the county, and so that secondary school students from Lastovo can continue to attend secondary school on the island of Korčula.

Follow our lifestyle page for more. If it's just Dubrovnik and southern Dalmatian you're interested in, give Total Dubrovnik and Total Korcula a follow.

The catamaran belonging to the Šibenik-based company Envira d.o.o., which should have been connecting Zadar, Šibenik and Split since April the 1st, is set to remain firmly in the harbour, at least for this season.

As Morski writes on the 24th of January, 2019, and as the coastal shipping agency posted on January the 17th on its website, Envira d.o.o. stated that it was unfortunately unable to realise its initial intention to maintain a fast boat line without a public service obligation (implying seasonal lines) on the Split-Šibenik-Zadar route and vice-versa from April to October 2019.

As the competent state agency states, during this year, Envira d.o.o. has announced the continuation of preparatory actions for the acquisition of a vessel with the aim of realising a fast boat line connecting Zadar, Šibenik and Split, therefore covering three counties. The realisation of such preparations for this season at least, appears to be farfetched and has already been written off as a resounding no.

The plans were, and as far as we're aware still are, for the vessel to travel from Split to Šibenik and Zadar every single day from April the 1st to October the 31st. The catamaran would sail from Split to Šibenik at 09:00, at 10:35, continuing on to Zadar, where it would arrive at 12:40. It would then sail from Zadar to Šibenik at 17:30 and then from Šibenik to Split at 19:35, with an expected arrival time of 21:10.

According to the published price list, the longest route which is from Split to Zadar, will cost 158 kuna, while the route from Split to Šibenik and from Šibenik to Zadar will cost 110 kuna.

All this seems, at least for this season, to have well and truly fallen into the water (no pun intended), and it remains to be seen whether or not Envira will be able to provide an appropriate ship for such journeys by next year.

Follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more.

New ferry lines are always needed, and it's one of the top complaints of Croatia's permanent island inhabitants, as the availability of their connection to the mainland is often governed too much by the tourist season. Primorje-Gorski Kotar County has decided to introduce a new Croatian ferry line which will connect the Municipality of Lopar and Baška, located on the nearby island of Krk.

As Morski writes on the 30th of November, 2018, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County has launched a welcome new ferry connection between Baska and Lopar, and the move was announced Primorje-Gorski Kotar County's deputy prefect, Marina Medarić.

Novi List reported that she spoke to the press on the matter and stated that the proposal for confirming the establishment of a year-round ferry connection which will cover the line of Baška-Lopar-Baška, will be one of the points of the County Assembly session this week.

The initiative was initiated by the Krk Harbour County Administration, and so far, the plans are for the connection to run once weekly during the more sparse winter months, twice weekly during the pre-season, and in the very height of the summer season, as many as four times per week.

If the County Assembly approves the proposal, the procedure of a public tender will be launched, where all interested shipping companies who desire to carry out the activity of this line will be able to make their interests known and submit their bids.

Make sure to keep up with our travel and news pages for more information on any other new Croatian ferry line, as well as for all the goings on from up and down the country, from continent to coast.

Click here for the original article by Tihana Tomicic for Novi List

Multiple ferry and catamaran services were interrupted by windy weather conditions

It's the last weekend in July, the traditional peak of the high season in Croatia