As it was found out, the passenger ship MS “Bolette” should enter the Neum water area on October 4th. It is the same cruise ship, 238 meters long, which sailed last June, under the flag of the Bahamas, and brought more than 1,000 passengers from Great Britain, who also visited Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)on their cruise.
In addition to being marked as the largest ship ever to enter the maritime waters of BiH, that cruise ship was also the first to pass under the Peljeski Bridge.
Contracts exist
And while in neighboring Croatia, the passage of the cruise ship under the newly built Peljesko bridge was greeted with great delight, its entry into Neum was met with indignation. Moreover, peaceful protests were also held. The same situation is repeating now, even though there are more than two months left until the announced sailing.
The mayor of Neum, Dragan Jurkovic, told that they received the notice about the cruise ship from the Neum Port Authority, which, like all competent authorities, informed them about it a few days ago, and that in principle they have nothing against tourists, but they are against the arrival of ships of such dimensions into the Neum water body due to irreparable ecological damage.
“There are a lot of ambiguities in this whole story. It’s not about unhindered passage, it’s about boarding.
”Allegedly, there are contracts, but we have not seen them, and, on the other hand, there are decisions of the BiH Presidency from 2014 regarding the entry of ships, although it somehow refers to the entry of warships,” Jurkovic told.
He emphasized that they immediately sent inquiries to all relevant authorities, from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Communications to the parliaments, in which they requested the necessary clarifications.
We’re looking for answers
“We are looking for an answer to the question of why such ships are allowed to enter, i.e. why is that part of the Neum water area used, which does not even have a pier, so boats can be reached from half of the water area to the coast.
At the Municipal Council, we came to the conclusion that we allow boats up to 15 meters.
We have time until the announced sailing to clear up all ambiguities, but we definitely do not agree with such a ship sailing this year as well,” Jurkovic explained.
No obstacles
The Port Authority did not want to provide any information.Journalists also requested clarification from the Federal Ministry of Transport but did not receive an answer by the time this issue was closed.
Last year, when the “Bolette” sailed, the Ministry stated that “the Law on Free Navigation and International Conventions, to which BiH is a signatory, stipulates that a ship can sail to the anchorage designated for it if the country is not in a state of disaster (war, pandemic, etc.), if the ship is technically correct, has all required documents, registers on time and pays the prescribed fees, Akta reports.
E.Dz.
