ZAGREB, April 3, 2019 – Economy Minister Darko Horvat on Wednesday said that it was possible for ships to be built in the Pula and Rijeka docks for the Jadrolinija liner shipping company, however, that requires numerous details and requires a public call for bids.
Asked by the press who would pay for those ships to be built, Horvat said “whoever needs them.”
With regard to the deadlines for the ships to be built, the minister added “that will be seen with the people in Jadrolinija,” who, he said will “have to renew the fleet in any case.”
In response to comments by reporters that all that would require a public call for bids, Horvat said “then there will be a public call for bids.” Reporters also commented on statements by Finance Minister Zdravko Marić who warned that “the devil is in the details,” and that in this case there were many of them, Horvat said that the finance minister is absolutely right.
Speaking about the options facing the Uljanik shipbuilding group earlier in the week, Minister Horvat stated that Jadrolinija should renew its fleet and that it needed 17 or 18 new ships.
“I’m certain that Jadrolinija will have to reconstruct or build its fleet. The fact that a public call for bids will be opened means that the ships will have to be contracted pursuant to the tender conditions. Otherwise, Jadrolinija would have to be excluded from the process of public procurement and we have to get approval from the European Commission for that,” Horvat told N1 Television earlier in the week.
More news about Jadrolinija can be found in the Business section.
