ZAGREB, March 27, 2018 – Economy Minister Martina Dalić said on Tuesday her ministry was working on a guarantee fund to ensure stable support for financing production in all Croatian shipyards.
Speaking at a conference on the future of shipbuilding in Croatia, Dalić said Croatia’s shipbuilding industry had prospects and that the government would support it, although not as before through various forms of state aid but through sound market-based support.
The big domestic shipyards – 3. Maj, Brodosplit and Brodotrogir – have been restructured and the global shipbuilding market is at a good stage, which means there are opportunities for developing domestic shipbuilding, Dalić said. Shipbuilding is important for Croatia because a ship is an important export commodity, because it has prospects both in the development of new product and in employment, and because it supports the development of specific knowledge, she added.
Over the next ten years, under rules on state aid, 3. Maj, Brodsplit and Brodotrogir can function independently on the market, without any form of state aid, Dalić said, but added that shipyards could still utilise various form of government support.
Speaking to reporters on the fringes of the conference, she said the Economy Ministry, in cooperation with the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, was defining ways to ensure stable support for financing production in shipyards that were not in financial trouble.
That would be a sort of guarantee fund for all shipyards, not just the four biggest, provided they are financially stable, have good business results, a place on the market and competitive product, Dalić said, adding that it was too early to say the guarantee amounts the shipyards could count on.
Commenting on the situation in Pula’s Uljanik, she said the government supported its restructuring in January and that it expected management to find a strategic partner, which would enable the second stage of restructuring, including an injection of fresh capital from the strategic partner and talks with the European Commission on whether any government help is necessary.
Dalić said the government decided to give Uljanik a guarantee because its order book was “relatively full, (which) means that, in the restructuring process, Uljanik has its place on the market.”
