Judging by the many projects it is involved in, their size and importance, the German group Lürssen, specialized in the design and production of luxury megayachts, is a serious foreign investor that entered the Croatian market three years ago by becoming the majority owner of Liburnia Riviera Hotels (LRH). Another major investment that is increasingly being discussed and written about is the construction of a marina in the center of Rijeka, which will accommodate and anchor the world’s largest megayachts and is expected to completely change the city’s image and transform it into an important nautical center of the Adriatic.
Lürssen is involved in this project through Gitone Kvarner, a company that, along with ACI, is a co-founder of the ACI-Gitone company, which has received a concession for 22 million kuna for thirty years to build the future Rijeka marina, where the yachts of the wealthiest people in the world will be anchored. Lürssen’s yachts are popular among the global financial elite: it built the famous ‘Octopus’ for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Roman Abramovich sailed on his yacht ‘Pelarus’, and it is also the creator of the largest private yacht in the world, measuring 180 meters, built for Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates.
It is expected that the future ACI marina Rijeka will become the berth for Lürssen’s yachts in the coming decades, thus rounding out the offerings for its powerful clients. Lürssen states that they offer maintenance and logistical support, modifications, and repairs to customers even after the sale, and these services could also include berthing of boats in the future Rijeka marina. In addition to the marina, the fourth generation of the Lürssen family, which has been leading the 145-year-old German group known for building military landing and patrol vessels, headed by Peter and Friedrich Lürssen, has also recognized Rijeka as a location for establishing an engineering office, and at the end of 2020, they founded Lürssen Design Center Kvarner d.o.o., which employs seventy Croatian engineers and various other experts involved in the design of luxury vessels.
– Croatia is one of the most recognized maritime and shipbuilding countries in the world with a long tradition in shipbuilding and engineering, especially in the design and construction of sophisticated prototype vessels. That is precisely why Lürssen established an engineering company that deals with the design of megayachts and supports its project team – said Teuta Duletić, Executive Director of Lürssen Design Center Kvarner, responsible for designing and preparing technical documentation for ship construction, headed by the holding company Lürssen Systems d.o.o., which is responsible for business consulting and management.
