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А former Austro-Hungarian naval base within the coastal town of Tivat in the sheltered Bay of Kotor – a UNESCO World Heritage site – rapidly turns into marina village and yacht home port, designed to cater to the advanced needs of all yachts, including superyachts and megayachts.

The number of large yachts under construction has more than tripled over the past ten years. Few marinas in the world can accommodate superyachts (vessels over 24 metres in length) let alone offer onshore provisions and crew services to complement the standards of the facilities found onboard.

Since declaring Montenegro the world’s “first ecological state” in 1991, the government has implemented many laws to protect the country’s natural resources against the potentially harmful effects of mass tourism.  Home of Porto Montenegro is a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Bay of Kotor – Europe’s southernmost fjord and the largest natural harbour in the eastern Mediterranean.

The marina is situated within southern Europe’s deepest fjord. Berths depths range from 4.5 to 16 metres and are afforded excellent protection by the bay’s mountainous surround and the inclusion of bespoke breakwaters. As a result, tide variation is low and currents are dissipated.

Porto Montenegro's marina offers state-of-the-art mooring facilities to homeport vessels as well as those navigating Montenegro’s waters on a temporary vignette. On-site duty-free fuelling and 24-hour marina concierge will be complemented by a nearby superyacht refit and repair facility (currently scheduled to be redeveloped on the site of a former commercial shipyard across the bay in Bijela).

The design of Porto Montenegro combines elements of the Montenegrin vernacular with complementary Mediterranean features: the result is an innovative, low-rise development that remains sympathetic to the Venetian and Ottoman styling of local architecture.

The layout of the marina community avoids the uniformity of a modern development. Instead, it replicates the style of a typical Montenegrin village, with wide waterfront promenades and winding, asymmetrical streets that weave past stone buildings to reveal hidden piazzas and alcoves.

The complex project of Porto Montenegro development presumes a lot of preparatory work to be done before hand: Adriatic Marinas is spending millions of Euros on seabed and land remediation and working with top consultants such as Arup and the Mace Group to ensure the design and construction are as efficient as possible, and the best environmental practices are being implemented.

To stimulate the creation of a thriving marina community, Porto Montenegro aims to attract residential purchasers and yacht owners simultaneously.  Residential buyers have first choice of long-term berth licenses and are offered a 75% discount for the first three years, whilst the project is constructed.  Owners will subsequently have a guaranteed right to a berth license that is renewable annually.

‘Teuta’, the first residential building that was made available for sale in April 2009, exceeded sales targets by selling all of its 29 residences within few months of releasing sales on an invitation-only basis.

The Montenegrin tax strategy is geared towards a national, uniform system that treats everyone equally. Yacht-friendly laws have been implemented, illustrative of the government’s desire to promote the growth of nautical tourism in the country. With the rate of tax applied to basic goods and marina services already capped at just 7%, the plan for the future is to create an incentivised flat tax regime across all taxable areas.