According to a report in Haniotika Nea, two important harbour projects are being planned for the next few years in Kissamos – at the old Customs pier in the town and at the port of Kavonisi. The planning stage is nearing completion, with restoration of the old pier due to start within the next 5 years, while the budget for a marina, quay extension, anchorage and other works at the port of Kavonisi is in the region of €30 million.

The old pier
According to the Municipality’s submission to the Chania Port Authority in 2022, which assembled all the relevant historical data, on the foreshore of the town of Kissamos “there was a pier which began construction in 1927 and was completed around 1936. The foundations were constructed of large blocks of sandstone set in cement mortar. The top surface was constructed of wood. It was about 60 metres long and 9 metres wide … Undoubtedly a ground-breaking project for the town of Kissamos, for which the sea was the only means of communication with the rest of Crete and the surrounding islands. It was on this pier that the locals would take their walks on public holidays, the lighters of the period – of Vasilis and Giannis Lyratzakis – would tie up, and the traditional trawlers of Kritikos and Anastasakis.”

Two notable historical events are associated with the pier:
— In May 1944, the pier was bombed by Allied aircraft. Eight local citizens who were in the area were killed in the bombing and others were injured, and a monument commemorating the event has been erected by the Municipality of Kissamos.
— In the autumn of 1944, during their withdrawal from the area, the Nazi occupiers blew up what was left of the pier. The ruins of the pier are still there at the bottom of the sea.

The plan which the Chania Port Authority now has in its hands “provides for the reconstruction of the pier with a length of 60 metres and a width of 10 metres. It could be used by fishing boats but also have the form of a marina for a few craft. Outstanding in the submission of the plan are the environmental approvals which are now necessary for all projects because of climate change. The environmental study will require at least three years, so we believe that the work could start within a timeframe of five years. It is a low-cost project which we believe could find funding,” the president of the Chania Port Authority Dimitris Virirakis told Haniotika Nea, adding that the approval of plans by the Decentralised Administration is a time-consuming process, one for which alternative assessment procedures have been requested in the past to reduce the time involved.

The port of Kavonisi
As regards the Kissamos port of Kavonisi, the Harbour Commission of the Chania Port Authority recently updated the original master plan which is over a decade old. As the head of the Port Authority’s Technical Services Artemisia Skoubaki told Haniotika Nea: “In 2011 a marina had been planned to the east of today’s harbour, but when the process of modification of the land-based port area began, the Culture ministry objected to the placing of the marina in that position as there is an old shipwreck on the sea bottom there. Therefore the new master plan envisages the construction of a marina further to the west. It will have 63 berths and will also be able to accommodate large ships,” she said.

The new plans provide for the removal of the current southern breakwater and the creation of a new one further to the east, the extension of the current breakwater by 160 metres, designation of a seaplane base, and creation of an anchorage for cruise ships outside the harbour. The budget for these works will reach €35 million.
(Haniotika Nea, 14/04/25)

It is not clear what the ultimate time-frame for these developments will be and, while they may represent the current aspirations of the Municipality and the Chania Port Authority, there is no evidence that they are currently being budgeted for by the government. It may be remembered that while in Chania in September 2024, the deputy minister for Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Stefanos Gikas (who remained in his post in March’s reshuffle) told reporters:
“We went to the port of Kavonisi, where the head of the Port Authority raised the issue of the port’s further development. It is something which the mayor and the Ports director can put forward during a future funding round. At the moment significant harbour works have been secured for Chania and I do not see us approving the extension of the port of Kavonisi in the current round.”