As Morski writes on the 6th of September, 2020, the keel for the new polar cruiser of the Scenic Group, for the construction of which the Croatian Government issued a state guarantee in the amount of 80.1 million euros, should be laid at the end of this year or the beginning of next year at the 3 Maj shipyard in Rijeka.
Novi list learned the above from Sasa Cokljata, the director of the Scenic Group’s company in Croatia, MKM Yachts. As he explained, everything depends on the time and deadline in which it will be possible to supply all the necessary equipment that needs to be installed in the hull of the ship. This is because the plan is to equip the new luxury cruiser as much as possible on the slipway, even to the level that after the launch, all that remains is to do the interior decoration.
After the keel is laid, the contours of the future luxury cruiser should start appearing on the slipway relatively quickly, given that the 3 Maj shipyard’s employees began cutting the sheets and making the ship’s sections for this vessel back in late April, which will be an improved replica of the Scenic Eclipse.
This 168-metre-long, ultra-luxury polar cruise ship has been moored at the Rijeka breakwater for several months now amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has ground the previously booming cruise tourism market to an absolute halt.
The Scenic Eclipse was built in the Pula shipyard Uljanik, and due to the well known financial issues which errupted in that shipyard, Australian shipowner Glen Moroney took the ship immediately after its launch and managed to have it finished in Pula in the middle of last summer.
At the beginning of July this year, ten-year contracts were signed between Rijeka’s 3 Maj shipyard and the newly established company MKM Yachts, one on business cooperation and the other related to the sub-concession.
Given that the current production at the 3 Maj shipyard takes place according to a special programme, the model of building a luxury almost 160 million euro polar cruiser has been agreed so that the Rijeka shipyard, as a subcontractor, will build the hull, while the construction of this and four other similar cruisers will be dealt with by MKM Yachts.
By sub-concession, MKM Yachts leased a small part of the Rijeka 3 Maj shipyard, both maritime domain and office space in the main building. At the moment, MKM Yachts’ employees are already working extensively in the refurbished premises of the former Technical Office at the 3 Maj shipyard.
They are also in the process of hiring staff because they need to employ another 70-80 experts within this company. Cokljat notes that the company has scanned the base of potential professional staff.
”According to what we’ve detected, we’re convinced that we’ll be able to do the majority of the work, even in regard to the part related to the interior of the ship, with Croatian subcontractors and enterprises,” said Cokljat.
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