St. Nicholas's Day – Day of Seamen and Boatmen Celebrated in Vukovar

The construction of the multipurpose Danube - Sava canal will begin by the year 2010 and besides the integration of Croatia’s inland navigable waterways, this project will also allow the irrigation of vast areas of agricultural land, stated Branko Bačić, the State Secretary for Sea at today’s celebration marking the Day of Seamen and Boatmen in the city of Vukovar.

He explained that according to a medium-term program for the development of navigable waterways and ports plans are to invest a total of EUR 1.2 billion over a period of eight years. The Croatian Parliament, he added, has passed in May the Strategy of Development of River Transport in the upcoming 10 years, with a goal of increasing the role of river transport in the total transport taking place in Croatia. Currently, river transport in Croatia makes up only 1% of the overall transport in Croatia, while in the EU countries water transport accounts for 6-24%.

Bačić also pointed out that it is also planned to implement the River Information Service RIS-CRORIS in order to cover all navigable waterways, while the city of Sisak should become the National RIS center.

Talking about the development of the maritime sector as such, Bačić underlined that these days the whole of the Adriatic Sea is covered by the Automated Identification of Ships (AIS) System. He also added that future plans include the installation of a radar subsystem for the Vessel Traffic Monitoring and Information System (VTMS).

Starting with May 2008 the Republic of Croatia joined the European system of satellite monitoring and discovering of oil spills at sea, he said and mentioned that Croatia is one of the leading partners in an international project which covers ballast water management with the main goal of minimizing the risk of biological contamination. Finally, he also talked about the country’s Action plan which was established in order to upgrade Croatia’s status regarding to the Paris Memorandum.

As far as maritime ports are concerned plans include a EUR 83 million investment in port infrastructure, Bačić explained and he also said that discussions regarding loans for the ports of Šibenik and Split are currently taking place. He also informed the audience that during the year 2008 contracts were signed for the modernization of 26 county ports and that following new and modernized ports were opened to the public: ports of Cres, Rogač, Supetar and Sumartin.

At the moment 22 vessels are being built for Croatian ship-owners in Croatia and outside of Croatia, he said also adding that the renewal of the Croatian fishing fleet is under its way including the renewal and modernization of passenger vessels up to 100 GT and excursion vessels up to 300 GT. He also used the opportunity to talk about the new Strategy for the Development of Nautical Tourism, which includes plans to create 15 000 new berths during the next ten years so Croatia could remain a prestigious nautical destination.

Addressing the seamen, he talked about the successfully realized social reform which started in 2008 and made it possible for over 10 thousand seafarers to secure their health and retirement insurance plans. He also mentioned the important fact that starting with 2006 almost EUR 1.4 million were invested by the Government into high-school and university scholarships for the education of future seamen.

Following the tradition of this annual celebration, meritorious individuals, organizations and companies were awarded for their devoted engagement in the areas of strengthening the development of river transport, search and rescue at sea and promotion of the service as well as the promotion of inland waterway navigation. Also rewarded, for their devoted work, were five employees of harbormasters’ offices due to the occasion of their retirement.

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