ZAGREB, September 10, 2018 – Economy Minister Darko Horvat said on Monday that the way the Uljanik and 3. Maj shipyards had operated so far had come to an end and that the two docks would have to start operating in line with market rules.
Asked by reporters what was more likely – acceptance of the Uljanik Group’s restructuring plan by the European Commission or the group’s bankruptcy, Horvat said that the group had its management, supervisory board and shareholders’ assembly and that the government would not comment on their decisions. “However, once their actions are no longer synchronous, the government will have to take the matter into its own hands and start making decisions,” said the minister.
He recalled that the EC believed that the government’s role in the Uljanik Group’s restructuring plan was too large and that the question was if the strategic partner was willing to act accordingly. “The EC trusts the government but is raising the issue of the quality of the strategic partner,” said Horvat.
Asked if the choice of a strategic partner other than Danko Končar’s Kermas Energija was possible, given the different statements by him and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković about that, Horvat said that the information he and Plenković were giving the public had the same purpose.
“I have been saying from day one that it is not impossible to change the strategic partner if we realise that he is not the real potential strategic partner… or cannot provide financial support for this model of restructuring. The strategic partner would then have to be replaced,” said Horvat.
He added that he and the prime minister had made it clear that, in parallel with an analysis of the restructuring plan, work was underway to find new strategic partners. “We are talking with companies that are currently relevant factors in the global shipbuilding industry, from Germany, China, Korea. We will talk with them until we find a model to enable both the Pula and the Rijeka shipyard to start operating in line with market principles,” said Horvat.
He also said that talks would be held with clients from Norway and Canada who had commissioned vessels from the two shipyards. “We will try to stop the cancellation of some of the ships that are at different stages of completion, and talk with those who currently build ships in a different way,” said the minister.
Meanwhile, the head of the Istria County Economic and Social Council (GSV) Rajko Kutlača said he expected Uljanik’s business account that was blocked last Monday to be unblocked by Thursday, when the government is to hold a session in Pula.
Kutlača said that unblocking the account was a precondition for the payment of August wages to the group’s workers and that otherwise workers could stage massive protests.
Kutlača said that the government should actively participate in the planning and implementation of Uljanik’s restructuring, both as an owner and partner, as only the government could “arrange and implement the restructuring of the shipbuilding group” in cooperation with the EC.
Describing shipbuilding as a strategic industry for Pula, Istria and the entire country, Kutlača said that he expected conditions to be created for viable shipbuilding and for the company’s professional management. The government should oversee the restructuring of the shipbuilding group and decide if it wants to preserve the shipbuilding sector, he said.
A member of the Istria County GSV and Croatian Employers Association president Gordana Deranja said that, given the position of the national GSV, which in May concluded that shipbuilding had to be preserved and a fund for the shipbuilding industry set up, those conclusions had to be implemented.
“This problem can be solved only by a competent management and the government. We seek Uljanik’s unconditional survival and its restructuring into a successful and viable shipyard,” said Deranja.
