ZAGREB, May 22, 2019 – After holding talks in Zagreb on Tuesday evening with a delegation of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), which on Monday visited Zagreb’s Brodarski Institut shipbuilding institute and on Tuesday the Rijeka-based 3. Maj shipyard, Croatian Economy Minister Darko Horvat said that there was potential for cooperation with the Chinese partners.
Addressing the press after the talks, the Croatian minister said that the 14-engineer expert delegation had toured the Zagreb-based institute and the Rijeka shipyard and that they were now going to submit a report to the company’s management.
It remains to be seen which decision the management will make, Horvat said, expressing confidence that the Chinese side would soon inform Croatia of its decision, be it positive or negative.
The Chinese delegation on Monday visited all the 14 laboratories of the Zagreb-based institute and there are currently good indications of possible cooperation in some concrete projects, the minister said. “A step forward has been made toward potential future cooperation.”
He added that it seemed to him that the Chinese side is ready to for a joint venture with Brodarski Institut.
When asked by the press what the Uljanik shipyard in Pula could expect, the minister admitted that the talks had focused mainly on shipbuilding in China and shipbuilding in Rijeka.
The Chinese delegation has shown satisfaction with the fact that a segment of the Rijeka-based dock has been upgraded and offers possibilities of cooperation, according to him.
He admitted that there were still no strict deadlines for any future steps.
He also made it clear that the government did not expect the Chinese side to be a strategic partner that would pay off the shipyards’ debts from the past.
In the meantime, the Pula-based Uljanik shipyard on Tuesday reported on the Zagreb Stock Exchange that due to bankruptcy proceedings being launched in Uljanik d.d. and, hence, the inability to deliver a Ro-Ro ship to the CLdN shipping company, the client has cancelled the contract.
Late in January, the same client cancelled a contract for the construction of another Ro-Ro ship because Uljanik was not in a position to deliver the ship.
Uljanik closed the deal for the construction of 2+2+2 ships for the Luxembourg client in March 2016.
The Commercial Court in Pazin decided on May 17 to open bankruptcy proceedings in the Uljanik shipbuilding group’s umbrella company, Uljanik d.d.
More news about the shipbuilding industry can be found in the Business section.
