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History of the Port of Bar
At the beginning of the last century, in a small Balkan principality, the "Italo-Montenegrin Society" operated with the aim, among other things, of elevating the cooperation between the two neighboring maritime states to a higher level. The Italians were finalizing the process of obtaining concessions for the construction of a port in Pristan, a railway to Virpazar, and navigation on Lake Skadar.
The agreement was preceded by extensive correspondence between the Prince's Government and the "Italo-Montenegrin Society," which is preserved in the State Archives of Montenegro, part of which we present in this monograph. The "Italo-Montenegrin Society" changed its name to the "Bar Society" based on the proposal of the President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lazar Mijušković, which was presented at the session of the Montenegrin Government on December 8th , 1905.
MARCH 1905.
While negotiations between the Society and the Montenegrin Government were still ongoing, Prince Nikola decided to organize a ceremony in Bar and lay the foundation stone for the construction of the port. On that Thursday morning, March 10th , among those present at the ceremony were delegates of the Bar Society: Count P. Foscari, Volpi, Captain Coleti, and engineer A. Drečković.
Around 10 a.m, Prince Nikola arrived at the port aboard the yacht ‘’Rumija’’ and pushed into the sea a large, pre-prepared stone bearing his initials and the date. “May this endeavor be timely and bring fortune to the state and all the Montenegrin people,” exclaimed the Prince, firmly believing that in the years and decades to come, the port would become Montenegro’s window to the world. After the Prince lowered the large stone into the sea, a powerful blast of explosives—set up for the occasion on Volujica—echoed across the bay, followed by prolonged gunfire from Pristan. The Prince then proclaimed: “Thanks be to God and to the bravery of Montenegrin falcons! Long live my beloved Montenegrins! Glory to the fallen heroes who shed their precious blood in the conquest of Bar!”
JUNE 27th , 1906.
Despite opposition from Austria, after lengthy negotiations in 1905, an agreement was finally reached on June 27th , 1906. On that date, a “Contract for the Construction and Operation of the Free Port of Bar, with an Additional Free Zone and a Railway from Pristan to Lake Skadar, as well as Navigation by Mechanical Means on Lake Skadar” was signed between the Montenegrin Minister of Finance and Public Works, Andrija Radović, on one side, and the President of the Bar Society, Roberto Paganini, along with his advisor Josip Volpi, on the other.
YEAR 1908.
The design for the port and ‘’Novi Bar’’, whose construction began in 1908, was developed by the renowned maritime engineer Koen Kalja. According to his ambitious plans, the port—designed to handle three million tons of cargo—was to be protected from the west and north by breakwaters, leaving a 150-meter-wide opening between them. A pier for passenger transport was to be built at the site of the old dock, and on the eastern side, a wide quay approximately one hundred meters in width was planned. The port was to be connected by road to Bar (Pristan). The establishment of railway traffic from the port, i.e., Pristan, to Virpazar was awaited until September 13th , 1908, when locomotives made a trial run. The railway line was officially opened for public use on November 2nd of the same year.
OCTOBER 23 th , 1909.
Despite the numerous obligations arising from the agreement, in the span of three years, the Bar Society had only managed to construct the breakwater, alongside which steamships and other vessels could dock and unload their cargo using their own equipment. Once the breakwater was completed, everything was ready for the ceremonial handover of the port to the Bar Society. The ceremony took place on October 23 th, 1909, when the tensioned ribbon was symbolically cut by the bow of the steamship Galipoli, which entered the port that morning and was the first to moor at the breakwater.
YEAR 1914.
When Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia in July 1914, Montenegro declared war on Austria-Hungary on August 6th , 1914, thus siding with Serbia, although it was unprepared for war. The Montenegrin army mobilized the steamships of the Bar Society—Balkan and Licheni, the yacht ‘’Galeb’’, the steam launches ‘’Pjesnik’’ and ‘’Vila’’ (operating on Lake Skadar), as well as the yacht ‘’Rumija’’ and several sailboats from Ulcinj. Initially, these vessels transported troops, food, ammunition, and war materials from Bar. After the siege of the port of Bar, transport operations were shifted to Medova (Shëngjin) and Drač (Durrës).
YEAR 1924.
After World War I, the port of Bar remained on the periphery of economic and trade routes. ‘’Dubrovačka plovidba’’, which in 1922 had operated maritime traffic on the Dubrovnik – Kotor – Bar route, ceased to service Bar as it could not reach an agreement with the government regarding the additional costs for maintaining the line. Even the state steamship ‘’Marljivi’’, which had previously made weekly trips to transport mail and military supplies from Kotor to Bar during favorable sea conditions, no longer came, leaving Bar without this vital connection. The use of the port was further limited by the slow and inefficient railway, as commercial goods could only be transported with a formal request, requiring approval from the Bar Society's Traffic Department to assign a wagon for transport.
The Bar Society charged high fees for docking ships at the port, which caused traders to avoid Bar, opting instead to build their businesses at other ports. The administration of the Bar Society was large, but through the company, many skilled workers in various trades were trained, and after World War II, these individuals became the backbone of the skilled workforce involved in the reconstruction, construction, and development of Bar’s economy.
YEAR 1926.
In 1926, Bar Shipping was established at the port, starting operations with founding capital of 2,000,000 dinars and two old vessels, ‘’Primorac’’ and ‘’Galeb’’. Despite limited resources, from 1931. onwards, the company began operating trade along the Adriatic coast, with Bar port as its home base.
YEAR 1941.
On April 16th , 1941, the "Messina" Division entered Bar and established border zones in Bar and Virpazar, with a financial station in Mišići. During the Italian occupation, the port of Bar became the central hub for traffic in the southern Adriatic. Through this port, materials (mainly timber, cement, etc.) were transported from Italy to Albania, and the route to Shkodra was so burdened that it could not withstand the load. With the fall of Italy in the summer of 1943, the port of Bar lost its importance. During World War II, the port did not hold significant strategic value.
YEAR 1943.
In the spring of 1944, as they were leaving the city, the Germans mined the small dock, approximately 300 meters long, known as the “Old Port,” rendering it unusable for the reception and dispatch of ships. After the end of World War II, the reconstruction and development of the port began. The definitive route of the railway from Belgrade to Bar, determined in 1950, also set the future course for the development of Bar and its port.
YEAR 1952.
Shortly after the decision to build the railway, a decision was also made to build the port, and in 1952, the first program was adopted. According to this program, the port of Bar was to be structured as follows: "An operational quay would be built along the Volujica hill, with a small repair shipyard at its end, as is typical for major ports. The cargo station would have two docks. Further from these, towards the 'Rumija' hotel, there would be a passenger port. The port would be protected from western winds by a large breakwater, approximately one and a half kilometers long, and the passenger port would serve as a breakwater against northern winds. Since the Rikavac stream flows near the coast, to avoid obstructing the construction of the port, it would be diverted through a tunnel under the Volujica hill into the sea. The port's capacity was planned to handle 1.5 million net tons of cargo annually. If the traffic exceeded this, the program foresaw the extension of both docks and an increase in capacity to 2 million tons, without relocating the port to the north."
YEAR 1954.
On April 16th , 1954, the Federal Government decided to establish the company Luka Bar, and by June, the investment program for the realization of the first phase was approved. That year, 32,000 tons of cargo, primarily cement, were handled through the old quay.
In mid-1954, after the first tender, the offer from the Maritime Construction Company was accepted. However, two years later, the volume of work and the intense pace forced the Bar company to subcontract the work to Pomgrad from Split, which proved to be the right decision. This led to a round-the-clock battle between the builders and nature. The workers had to manage Volujica, tame the sea, and skillfully avoid its whims. Where muscles couldn't do the job, machines roared. The new port began to emerge from the sea, with outlines that once again represented power, prestige, and dominance. In just seven years, the builders from Pomgrad had embedded more than 1 million cubic meters of stone into the port, spending four billion dinars. In addition to the stone, 30,000 cubic meters of concrete and 750,000 cubic meters of port excavation were used.
Alongside the construction of the port, cargo handling continued at the restored quay at the root of the main breakwater along Volujica, where an old operational quay had existed since 1909, stretching 290 meters. At the same time, it was used for passenger traffic until 1959. During this time, all cargo handling was done manually, regardless of the type or weight of the cargo. This strenuous work was carried out by a group of workers from Old Bar, without transport, breakfast, or working hours, often wrapping their fingers in rags to prevent bleeding.
YEAR 1959.
Despite numerous challenges, on November 24th , 1959, Bar's Liberation Day, the fifth dock, measuring 25 meters in length for passenger traffic, was ceremoniously put into operation. Just five days later, on Republic Day, the Bar–Titograd railway was officially inaugurated. On this historic day for Montenegro, it became clear that the dynamics of the region’s development would depend primarily on the port and then on the railway.
YEAR 1960.
The port was opened for international traffic in 1960, and a border crossing and a commission for controlling international passenger traffic in maritime transport were established. Dreams became reality – Montenegro established an unbreakable connection with the entire world, and the significance of the port of Bar for the region was recognized and accepted globally.
YEAR 1960-1964.
During these years, despite the fact that the first phase was not completed, ships from all directions began arriving at the port. The mooring spots were “constantly” occupied, and more than ten ships were anchored, sometimes for days, waiting to unload or load cargo.
YEAR 1965.
The expansion of railway traffic in 1964. and 1965. opened new perspectives and led to more complex port operations. Ships began arriving from all parts of the world, with more than ten ships moored at the port at any given time, and twice as many waiting at anchor offshore.
On June 15th, 1965. a regular passenger line was established between Bar and Bari. The ferry ‘’Sveti Stefan’’ was the first to transport passengers on the maritime route between Bar and Bari. In the same year, with the completion of work on the second dock, the first phase of the port's construction was finished. The port was equipped to handle an annual cargo turnover of 1.2 million tons. In 1965, a total of 211,012 tons were handled, representing 53% of the total cargo turnover in all Yugoslav ports. It was a time when Bar's royal port dominated the Adriatic.
The first phase of construction included the main and secondary breakwaters, with a total length of 1,800 meters, the second dock with a 1-kilometer quay, a useful depth of 10 meters, and six ship mooring spots, along with vertical and horizontal mechanization. A quay for bulk cargo was built at Volujica, stretching 320 meters with a depth of 14 meters, along with a petroleum berth for ocean-going vessels. A free customs zone was also established, along with a passenger quay and a quay for larger boats, totaling 435 meters in length with a depth of 4 to 6 meters. Simultaneously, part of the first dock was filled, warehouses covering 23,000 square meters were closed, a cold storage facility with a capacity of 2,500 tons was built, and silos for cement, bauxite, and caustic soda were installed, along with tanks for liquid fuels. Railway tracks, roadways, and other port infrastructure were also constructed.
YEAR 1971.
The construction of the second phase of the Port of Bar began in 1971, with projected capacities of 5 million tons. By February, five years later, 250 port-related families, totaling around 1,000 residents, were relocated into 229 apartments built by the port. On May 29th , 1976, the Belgrade-Bar railway line was officially inaugurated, marking a significant milestone in the region's infrastructure and transportation development.
YEAR 1978.
By the late 1970s, the second phase of the Port of Bar was nearing completion. In this phase, in addition to the existing capacities, a southern quay of Pier 1 was constructed on driven steel piles, measuring 360 meters in length, 20 meters in width, and 12 meters in depth. This quay included a container terminal with a 40-ton capacity, capable of handling ships with a capacity of 500-600 containers. After dredging, the Volujica quay was extended to 400 meters and could accommodate ships of up to 80,000 tons in capacity. Additionally, a new berth was constructed at the passenger quay, extending it to 114 meters, allowing it to handle both general cargo and operate as a RO-RO terminal. A petroleum berth was added at the main breakwater for liquid cargo, with a pier extension at the Volujica quay for liquid cargo, where ships of up to 20,000 DWT could dock. The RO-RO quay, 20 meters long, was completed for ships with a draft of up to 8 meters, situated at the junction of the Volujica and Pier 1 quays. The harbor basin was dredged, removing approximately 250,000 cubic meters of material. A total of 47,000 square meters of warehouse space were closed off, along with specialized warehouses behind the Volujica quay. Infrastructure was completed, including over 8.5 kilometers of rail track, roadways, and storage and handling areas. A workers' hotel with 240 beds was also built, and the free customs zone was expanded. The port was capable of handling nearly 5 million tons of cargo annually, with 1,270,000 tons of cargo processed the previous year. Work also began on the construction of silos for grain with a capacity of 30,000 tons and tanks for edible oils with a capacity of 20,000 tons.
APRIL, 15th 1979.
On the morning of April 15th , 1979, a powerful tremor from the interior of the country signaled the impending disaster. The catastrophic earthquake severely damaged the capacities of the first phase of the port, which had been constructed using traditional methods with blocks. The quays at Pier 1 and Pier 5, as well as the old quay below Volujica, were almost completely destroyed. Due to structural failures, the main and secondary breakwaters were severely damaged, and a total of 15 shore cranes were disabled, one of which was completely destroyed. The earthquake also destroyed one warehouse and damaged the container crane, cargo handling bridges, and some horizontal machinery.
YEAR 1981.
The restoration and reconstruction of the port facilities, as part of the third phase of development, began in March 1981. and was completed on July 13th , 1983. During this period, the port expanded its capacities by constructing a terminal for the export of the "Yugo" automobile from Kragujevac to America.
YEAR 1982.-1986.
Between 1982. and 1986, the Port of Bar accounted for around 11% of the total maritime cargo handled in Yugoslav ports, with 98% of this being foreign cargo. Despite the challenges, the port continued to operate successfully. Annually, around 800 ships visited the port, and the volume of cargo reached up to 2.8 million tons. During the 1980s, the port employed about 1,600 workers, and wages were exceptionally good.
YEAR 1989.
A record cargo throughput was achieved in 1989, when the port handled a total of 2,744,756 tons of goods.
YEAR 1992.
The year 1992. marked a dramatic turn in the port's operations. From record-breaking daily and monthly cargo throughput to the unprecedented idleness of the port's facilities, it was a year of sharp contrasts. In April, the port achieved a record monthly cargo throughput of 325,003 tons. However, in the second half of the year, due to United Nations sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SRJ), the port’s operations were severely impacted. During this period, the workers at the eerily empty docks handled only 9,027 tons of cargo, marking the lowest monthly throughput in the port's history.
YEAR 1994.
In 1994, the port reached its lowest point—only 22,904 tons of cargo were handled, which was equivalent to a two-day cargo throughput under normal conditions. Over the course of the 30 months since the UN sanctions were imposed on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SRJ), the port handled 374,889 tons of various goods, a figure that represented the cargo typically handled in fifty days under normal operating conditions.
YEAR 1995.
The impact of the sanctions on the port was devastating, with only 34,209 tons of cargo handled in the first eleven months of 1995. However, the suspension of sanctions at the end of November brought ships back to Bar. By December, the port had handled 119,269 tons of goods.
YEAR 1998.
In February 1998, the government adopted a decision to approve the Special Privatization Program for the Public Enterprise "Port of Bar", which transformed the company into a joint-stock company.
YEAR 1999.
By the end of the first quarter of 1999, the Port of Bar once again lost communication with the outside world due to NATO bombing. Despite this setback, the port still managed to handle 1,136,065 tons of various cargo, processing 592 cargo ships that year.
YEAR 2000.
In 2000, the Free Zone of the Port of Bar was established by a decision from the Government of the Republic of Montenegro. This decision followed positive evaluations of the economic feasibility studies. The founders of the free zone included the Government of the Republic of Montenegro, JSC ‘’Port of Bar’’, and the Municipality of Bar. The free zone covers the entire area of JSC ‘’Port of Bar’’, excluding the passenger terminal and the area belonging to JSC Jugopetrol-Kotor.
OCTOBER, 1st 2009.
On October 1st , 2009, the Port of Bar successfully completed its restructuring process, laying the foundation for more efficient operations and future development. The restructuring resulted in the separation of the Container Terminal and General Cargo JSC, as well as three fully-owned subsidiaries of the Port of Bar JSC:
- Security and Fire Protection Ltd.
- Maritime Services Ltd.
- Informatics Ltd.
APRIL, 1st 2010.
On April 1st , 2010, the Port of Bar JSC also separated Hotel “Sidro” Ltd. as a distinct entity.
DECEMBAR 2011.
In December 2011, the Port of Bar acquired a Liebherr LHM 550 mobile port crane with a capacity of 144 tons, significantly improving its operational capacities and efficiency.
SEPTEMBAR 2020.
In September 2020, the Port of Bar further strengthened its operational capacities by acquiring a Liebherr LHM 420 mobile port crane with a capacity of 124 tons, enabling more efficient and faster cargo handling.
MARCH 2021.
In March 2021, the Port of Bar started the reconstruction of the Volujica operational quay, continuing its efforts to improve the port infrastructure and enhance the safety and efficiency of operations.
Address
Obala 13.jula no.2
85000 Bar, Montenegro
Phone
+382 30/300 400
+382 30/300 590
