Posted 2017-07-17

There is now a Website.  This is for the marinas and ports on the whole of Evia which now has an island-wide computer system.

http://olne.gr/en/

Procedures for paying/transiting the bridge.

The payment is made in an office on the left-hand side of the Commercial Port entrance which is about 200 metres south of the bridge on the Evia side. (North end of Point C on the website).  There is a large ’roundabout’ immediately south of the bridge and you simply follow the quayside south until you are in front of a security gate with a security guard.  He will direct you to the office opposite his hut.  You will need your Registration.

Once you’ve paid you will be directed to the Port Police office, the current directions and building description is correct. You will need your Registration, Insurance and DEKPA.

We were told to standby on VHF 12 from 2130.  The Port Police give two calls by vessel name, first to give you time to single up, second to slip and proceed.  All well organised.

North to South Transit, a caution.

The Waiting Quay (Area A on the website) is marked out with a red line on the quay edge.

The southern section of the quayside is littered with dingy moorings and laid lines reducing the available quayside and introducing floating hazards.

There are few bollards on the quay, mostly on the northern section and only small mooring rings to the south.

The quay itself has an underwater projection, a shelf or a step, just below the waterline in places.   It is of ideal dimensions to give concerns for the turn of your bilge, although depths alongside are in the region of 3 metres.

The quayside ladders project from the quay face.   You need to be well fendered.

Chris Thorne

Posted 2015-07-22

Last night we passed the city of Chalcis, Haldiki, or however, they name it.

The bridge passage is to be paid at the Port Authority, in a small office directly on the waterside (marked with the red arrow on the map opposite). Passage price we paid for 12 meters is 35 €uro.

After payment, the Port Authority person sends an email to the port police (they open the bridge and regulate the ship traffic).

You have to wait on your boat until after 21:00 with your VHF on channel 12. The bridge will open somewhere between 22:00 and 04:00.  They call you 5 minutes before opening – yacht by yacht – and ask you to release you mooring ropes and slowly come to the bridge. Five minutes after the first call the bridge opens and the lady (port police) calls the yachts by name again to pass through the bridge.

It goes like this:  “Funny Girl”, Yes, “You can go, bye bye”.

When passing through the bridge we were watched by hundreds of spectators, hanging on the fences and there are also two restaurants (part of the bridge) full of people dining and watching you.  NICE.

After the bridge, yachts can turn to starboard – there is a nice bay for anchoring, 10 meters deep with good holding (heavy clay). The yacht harbour is very shallow, so we did not even try to enter. The next morning we woke up with 25 knots of wind, but the anchor held well. The bay is relatively small so no waves built up.

I marked the place on the map opposite where you may moor with green lines.  Space, where boats are allowed to moor, is painted RED by the port authority. Red is for visiting yachts and locals should not moor there.  Mooring spaces with no colour means anybody can moor there. We had no problems finding a space. The dock on the island side has poles with water and electricity with smart-cards. Those smart-cards are valid for ALL the harbours of EVIA.

I can understand the colour system for berthing as otherwise, the locals fill up every harbour.  Even the locals are having big problems with people from Athens, as they put their boats everywhere in cheap or free harbours.

Peter

SY Funny Girl

Posted 2011-05-16

Subject: Khalkis Bridge Closed on Sunday

We arrived at the south of Khalkis expecting to transit northwards on Sunday night or probably very early Monday AM, to be told by the Harbour Authority (CH12)that the bridge would not open until Monday night (really Tuesday AM early).

Yachts seeking to pass through this bridge would be well advised to telephone the port authority using the number in Rod Heikel’s pilotage if they wish to avoid unnecessary waits for transit.

Stewart McKenna

S/Y Susanne

Posted 2010-10-08

We recently transitted the bridge and because Canada has allegedly not signed some maritime convention, we were assessed a penalty of 5 times the normal bridge fee as a Canadian flagged vessel.

Con Sprenger

Posted 2009-11-22

Subject: Going South is a kind of tricky

As mentioned, it is not so clear, where to stay before you can pass thru the bridge to the south. There is very little room with enough depth. Be careful especially when you arrive from the north and it is high tide ( almost plus 1 meter ). Most of the mooring possibilities will have very shallow waters at low tide! The best places are around the pilot boats mooring spot.

Claus Bettag

Posted 2009-07-17

I have just come up the Evia Channel and have some updated information for boats wanting to pass through the bridge.

Most significant is that the Port Police Office has moved. It is now on the east side of the bridge on Evia itself. Go straight ahead after crossing the bridge on foot, past a large blue “Parking” sign. The new building is about 50 meters up on the right side but the entrance is hard to find because it is up a small, unlikely looking alley just before you get to the building. This may change once all the surrounding building work is completed.

It is necessary to go with your boat papers to the Port Police to notify them of your request to go through the bridge and to pay the fee. I was charged Euro 18.60 for a 14.6-meter boat on a Saturday night. You call them on Ch 12 at a specified time to find out the specific time of opening (at slack water between the hours of 2200 and 0400)and they then call you by name when you are to proceed. You need to be up and ready with anchor weighed because you only have 10 minutes maximum to pass through once they have called.

We anchored under the fort on the south side with good holding and took the dinghy ashore on the jetty north of the bridge on the west side. It is not so clear where to stop to go through the formalities on the way back south. The jetty to the north on the east side was rafted three or four deep when we were waiting and the nearest anchorage is two miles or so away.

Hope this is of use and interest to other cruisers.

Geoff Cluett

s/v Concerto

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