Merchants and oversea COT

[GAGA Extrem]

I noticed a thing i never saw before:
Playing as Switzerland, i cannot send any merchants to oversea COT - and even some COTs were i would have a known land route (alexandria)...

...so i "got" a port after a few wars - still i cant send any merchants.

Do i need a port with connection to capital to do so? Or a core-port province?

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Interesting, because i believe i have played a few minors were it was possible...
...maybe it was the demo?