The new management of Jadrolinija shipping company announced.
According to reliable sources, this Thursday, the new three-person management board, led by David Sopta, a former assistant to the foreign minister, will take the helm of Jadrolinija, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on August 30, 2017.
David Sopta, current manager of the Real Grupa marketing agency from Zagreb and a former management member of several insurance companies, will replace Alan Klanc at the helm of the state-owned shipping company. His associates will be Ante Vranješ, group leader in the Rijeka branch of the BKS Bank and president of the ‘Zavičajno društvo Dalmacije’ (Native Community of Dalmatia) in Rijeka, and Miljenko Antić, a longtime technical director, who is currently a member of the present management board. He is credited to have made the Jadrolinija fleet do a good job during this and last year’s record tourist season, as well as during previous years.
According to Slobodna Dalmacija resources, more than 20 persons, mostly from the shipping and banking sector, applied to the tender for the Jadrolinija management’s bid, which was announced by the Ministry of State Property, with many of contenders hoping to catch a favourable ‘political’ wind.
The management led by Klanc will leave their positions after a four-year and four-month-long mandate, during which the [Jadrolinija] fleet was strengthened with four new ferries, which were contracted prior to their arrival at the helm, and two used catamarans, while four ferries and one catamaran were sold to breaking yard or to the new owners.
The new three members of the management will have to take on the same challenges the old management has been facing: to rejuvenate the fleet, to improve the quality of the service and, most importantly, to secure concession over all or at least most of the ferry lines, because after the announced competitions, we might be seeing ferries of Italian or Greek companies, whose inclusion in the race for the Adriatic routes is expected to happen as of January the 1st next year.
Translated from Slobodna Dalmacija
