On Monday 22 June 2026, the weather at ACI Marina Žut is glorious midsummer weather. There is also a light maestral breeze. In Žut Bay, which is very well sheltered from the north-west, there is little sign of it; the water in the marina is as smooth as glass.
Jetty drags motorboat into the depths
In the late afternoon, the popular marina, with 120 berths along the 441-metre-long concrete jetty, is barely half full. In the northern section, two sailing boats are heading for the marina, turning their sterns towards the jetty and preparing to moor with a mooring line and two stern lines. At the very southern end of the marina, there is just a small 25-foot Croatian motorboat, on which three women are sitting, enjoying the peaceful quiet of the afternoon, when at 5.31 pm there is a dull thud followed by a loud splash. A small tsunami-like wave rolls out from the marina into the bay. The boat with the three women on board has vanished. It is now floating keel-up and beginning to sink.
Dramatic rescue operation
The crews rush out of their boats and can hardly believe their eyes: the southern section of the marina’s concrete jetty has disappeared and is now lying on the seabed. Two women emerge from the capsized motorboat, swim around it and scream for help: the third woman is still in the boat and is in danger of drowning. Several men immediately jump into the water. The third woman is trapped inside the motorboat. Fortunately, her head is protruding from an air pocket. But the boat, with the trapped woman inside, is in danger of sinking. After a few anxious minutes, they manage to free the woman from this life-threatening situation.
The harbour is emptying
Fearing that the rest of the jetty might also collapse, the visiting boat owners start their engines, cast off their stern lines and mooring lines, and leave. Within an hour, the entire ACI Marina is deserted. Most boats find a berth either in the marina’s buoy field or in the neighbouring Marina Fešta. The following Tuesday, the service boat of the Lučka kapetanija Šibenik (Šibenik Harbour Authority) arrives at the scene of the accident. All remaining concrete jetties at ACI Marina Žut are completely closed to boat traffic. Mooring and access prohibited!
How is the ACI Marina Association responding?
News of the incident at ACI Marina Žut is spreading like wildfire. Immediately after the accident, the ACI marina association posted a statement on its website, simply under the heading News and events: Due to “technical inspections and infrastructure checks”, the “ACI Marina Žut” remains “closed until further notice”. This notice has now been removed from the website. However, anyone visiting the ACI Marina Žut If you click through, you will find the following notice: “The jetties at ACI Marina Žut and the restaurant are closed until further notice.” The moorings and all other marina services are available as usual.
What is the situation regarding ageing infrastructure?
The massive concrete jetty at ACI Marina Žut was built in the mid-1980s in socialist Yugoslavia, along with 15 other marinas. Insiders have been highlighting the dilapidated infrastructure at many ACI marinas for years and fear that the tragedy at Žut could be repeated elsewhere. In response to an enquiry from YACHT, ACI stated: “Incidents at different locations should not be linked or directly compared.” However, sections of the jetties at ACI Marina Palmižana (which was built at the same time as ACI Marina Žut) have been closed since 2021. A notice on their website this summer states that the marina is operating “at reduced capacity this year due to refurbishment works”.
The future of ACI Marinas is uncertain
At ACI Marina Žut, it is probably safe to assume that the dilapidated jetty – made of reinforced concrete that is over 40 years old and featuring rusted-through steel girders – will have to be demolished and disposed of. Given its total length of 441 metres, this is unlikely to be cheap. The only question is, what comes next? Under the current concession agreement, the concession (licence) for ACI Marina Žut expires on 31 December 2030, as it does for 19 of the 22 ACI marinas in Croatia. In an EU country, concessions can no longer be automatically awarded to a state-affiliated company; they must be put out to tender. And there are interested parties who have set their sights on the marinas situated in attractive locations.
You can read more about this in our Local news from the Adriatic
Bodo Müller
Freier Autor