Ploče, Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Croatia

🇭🇷 Ploče is a town and seaport in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia.

History The town was first mentioned in 1387 as Ploča. During the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a port named Aleksandrovo after Alexander I of Yugoslavia was constructed in 1939. During the socialist Yugoslavia, between 1950 and 1954, and again from 1980 to 1990, Ploče was named Kardeljevo after the Yugoslav politician Edvard Kardelj. Some locals call their city Ploča (the stone).

Geography Ploče is located on the Adriatic coast in Dalmatia just north of the Neretva Delta and is the natural seaside endpoint of most north-south routes through the central Dinaric Alps. This makes it the primary seaport used by Bosnia and Herzegovina and the endpoint of the Pan-European corridor 5C.

Čeveljuša is a toponym in Ploče, located to the east of the town, on the intersection of the D8 highway and the D425.

Port The Port of Ploče was first mentioned on 6 November 1387, but the building of a larger port was done in recent modern times. Work on the present day harbour first began in 1939 but was destroyed during World War II. It was rebuilt in 1945 and the village of Ploče grew up to 480 inhabitants in 1948. After the Adriatic road and Neretva railway lines were built to the port in the mid-1960s, the town experienced a steady growth.

Bosnia and Croatia are currently in negotiations as regards the establishment of a "privileged economic zone" for Bosnian businesses within the Ploče port facilities, though this development is hindered by the opposition of local government, and Croatian people to the concept of a partial loss of sovereignty over the port. The Bosnian government would like a concession, with sovereignty features, for at least 99 years, whereas the Croatian government only wishes to offer commercial passage through Croatian territory for Bosnian and Herzegovinian goods. This topic was a subject of lengthy negotiations; easier passage for Croatian citizens through the narrow strip of Bosnia and Herzegovina territory (that divides Croatia's land territory) near Neum, in exchange for privileges for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Ploče. The Pelješac Bridge that bypasses Neum and Bosnian territory completely opened in 2022 although at first the project was strongly resisted by the Bosnian government.