‘3. maj’ secured jobs for 2011

The shipyard ‘3. maj’, despite unfavorable circumstances, has secured employment for a large part of its capacity for 2011, said the CEO of the Rijeka shipyard, Edi Kučan, at today’s press conference.

The tanker for the Zadar Tankers, which will be launched tomorrow, is scheduled for delivery in March 2011. Another tanker for domestic clients, specifically for Uljanik plovidba, will be launched at the end of March, and during the year, the completion of the outfitting of the last ship in the series for Uljanik plovidba is expected, Kučan stated. The completion of outfitting two ships for a Norwegian client taken over from an Italian shipyard that went bankrupt is planned, procurement of equipment is being contracted, and technical documentation is being prepared for the contracted construction of ships for the Swedish client Wisby Tankers, and in 2011, the largest barge to date will be built in the Rijeka shipyard for a Belgian client, measuring 100 meters and valued at around five million euros, Kučan announced.

He added that intensive work on contracting new jobs continues and that there are indications that some of the jobs will be realized. However, he emphasized that the approval of the restructuring plan by the European Commission must first be resolved before contracting can proceed without hindrance.

Speaking about the problem with the handover of the ship “Pomer” for Uljanik plovidba, Kučan stated that the final definition of the handover contract items is underway, so the ship could soon set sail from “3. maj”. Uljanik plovidba recently initiated international arbitration proceedings with “3. maj” due to disagreements over the price of the ship, but, as Kučan said, the arbitration was withdrawn after a productive meeting and an agreement reached at the Ministry of Economy. Presenting data on business results, he noted that only the shipyard “3. maj”, as the largest company within the Brodograđevna industrija “3. maj” group, will achieve a positive business result this year with a profit of nine million kuna. However, after accounting for interest that burdens the shipyard, the final business result will still be negative.

The company STN within the BI “3. maj” group will achieve a positive result, while other components will end 2010 in the red, Kučan said, noting that he cannot yet speak about the final business result of the entire BI “3. maj” group. In response to a journalist’s question about the current state and prospects of privatization, Kučan said that in the first third of the year, the status of the potential buyer, the A-tec group, which is reportedly in business trouble, will be known. If A-tec’s privatization of “3. maj” fails, according to him, the shipyard already has a restructuring plan prepared by the Management, and there are other interested potential buyers, according to Management information, from the United Kingdom, China, and even Danko Končar, who is once again expressing interest in “3. maj”. (H)