MedCruise gathers in Zadar

Located in the heart of the Adriatic, Zadar city is centred around the Roman Forum within the preserved city walls, and has been a member of MedCruise for over ten years.

The new Ferry and Cruise Port of Gazenica has recently opened for traffic.

Celebrity Equinox was the first ship to visit the new facility last July with the official opening taking place in the autumn. The new facility had five cruise berths, as well as seven ferry berths, and can accommodate five small ships simultaneously, or two large and two small at the same time. The longest berth is 375mtr with a 13mtr draught.

The new facility is situated 3.5km south of the city and completion of the infrastructure work has taken five years. The cost of the project is about €170m, financed by the Government of Croatia with loans from EIB and KfW.

MedCruise president, Carla Salvado, speaking at her 1^st GA as president said she was ‘happy to be in Croatian hands’ and answered that the most important subject for discuss is the need to further promote all regions of the Mediterranean as cruise destinations.

Thanos Pallis, MedCruise secretary general said he hoped ‘discussions over the week with cruise executives will bring more cruise traffic to Zadar’. In 2014, Port of Zadar received 83 ships bringing 53,791 passengers. For 2015, between 90-100 calls are expected to bring over 70,000 passengers.

Popular tours from the port are the Plitvice Lakes, a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Krka waterfalls, Island of Pag, the ancient city of Nin, Kornati Islands and the old city of Zadar.