International Waterway
The Great Belt was historically navigable to ocean-going vessels and, despite a few collisions and near collisions with the bridge, it still is. The Danish navy monitors maritime traffic in the waters around the belt.
In the reign of king Eric of Pomerania the Danish government began to receive a large part of its income from the so-called Sound Dues toll on international merchant ships passing through the Øresund. Merchants paid the tax under threat of having their vessels sunk or confiscated. Non-Danish vessels were restricted to the Øresund channel.
During the middle of the 19th century, this practice became a diplomatic liability and the Danish government agreed to terminate it, achieving an international financial compensation in return. Danish waterways were consequently opened to foreign shipping. The eastern half of the Great Belt is an international waterway, legally based on the 1857 Copenhagen Convention. The western half of the Great Belt (between Funen and Sprogø) and all other parts of the Danish straits are Danish territorial waters and subject to Danish jurisdiction.
Read more about this topic: Great Belt