ZAGREB, August 6, 2019 – The leader of the Jadranski Sindikat trade union, Boris Cerovac, asked on Tuesday that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who was expected to visit the Rijeka-based 3. Maj shipyard with three government ministers during the day, apply the same rules to the ailing Uljanik dock as are those applied to other Croatian shipyards.
Addressing a news conference in Pula, Cerovac welcomed the government’s decision to try to salvage 3. Maj but expressed dissatisfaction with the way the government had been treating the Pula-based Uljanik dock over the past year and a half.
Cerovac also criticised local politicians for not demanding a parliamentary debate on Uljanik.
“You should fight for the people who have elected you to your posts,” he said.
Samir Hadžić, a member of Uljanik’s board of creditors and a former member of its supervisory board, said that the prime minister’s visit to 3. Maj was of a ceremonial nature and that the government’s criteria as to whether a shipyard would be salvaged or not depended solely on political criteria – the voter base or other political interests.
“There is no economic or any other logic in that. Uljanik built 60% of ships in the last 30 years, and yet we have been abandoned as worthless. Still, we have an offer to build five cruise ships, there are two ships that should be completed, and a third one is in Rijeka,” said Hadžić, confident that if the government acted and used the present possibilities, Uljanik would have a chance to restart production and continue Pula’s shipbuilding tradition.
More news about Croatian shipbuilding can be found in the Business section.
