Support for the transport sector, shipowners, and carriers worth 60 million kuna begins

The Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure announced on Wednesday public calls for the allocation of small value grants to assist affected entrepreneurs in the transport sector, shipowners, and carriers, for which a total of 60 million kuna.

This is a continuation of measures to assist the transport sector aimed at mitigating the effects of the pandemic, they state in a press release from the Ministry, adding that the allocation of these grants was approved by the Government at last week’s session for the affected sectors, among which the transport sector, particularly occasional carriers and shipowners, is the most affected.

The two calls published by the Ministry are therefore intended for entrepreneurs who perform occasional passenger transport (shipowners of passenger ships for one-day and multi-day tourist trips in national navigation) and who are connected with activities related to maritime and coastal passenger transport, travel agencies, and tour operators. The calls are open until November 1, 2021.

The amount of support they can expect, as stated in both calls, is not higher than the established eligible operating costs of entrepreneurs in the observed period, whereby for shipowners the total amount of support per transport unit cannot exceed 25 thousand kuna, while for occasional carriers it depends on the category of vehicles with which they operate.

Thus, for a personal car of category M1 (capacity 7+1; 8+1 passenger seats including the driver’s seat), the amount of support cannot exceed a total of 3,000 kuna per transport unit, while for buses or vehicles of categories M2 and M3, the amount of support cannot exceed a total of 7,000 kuna per vehicle.

All entrepreneurs will be able to obtain these grants under several conditions, including that their business operations are restricted by the decision of the headquarters, that they do not use any other support or compensation measures for justified operating costs, and that they have a revenue decline in 2020 and 2021 of at least 75 percent compared to 2019.

The Ministry also emphasizes that these are one-time and non-repayable state grants to compensate part or all of the paid operating costs for shipowners and carriers whose economic activity has been disrupted due to the pandemic, and they expect this will contribute to the initiation and recovery of their business so that they can enter this and the next tourist season with increased liquidity and reduced obligations.

These grants will be allocated until the funds are exhausted, and no later than December 31, 2021. The Ministry also adds that so far, through the program for the allocation of state aid to the maritime sector, transport, transport infrastructure, and related activities, they have allocated more than 45 state guarantees worth over 145 million kuna.

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