Within the restructuring process of its shipbuilding industry, necessary for the forthcoming Croatian accession into the European Union, the Croatian Government passed a decision to sell off another of its shipyards, namely Brodotrogir, EU business news site informs.
According to the decision, the buyer will be the Kermas Energija firm, which promised to maintain the shipyard’s core operation-the shipbuilding. Taking into consideration that the Trogir based shipyard is in a very bad shape, its restructuring is estimated to cost 665 million euros, therefore it is being sold for a symbolic price of one kuna (0.13 euros, 0.16 dollars).
The bid actually represents a transformed proposal of a previous attempt of the shipyard’s privatization, which is now more focused on the process of building new ships. The restructuring process would also include considerable reduction of labor force, which apart from dedicating to shipbuilding segment would be redirected to the new additions of the company, namely a business-tourism zone and a marina.
The decision comes when the remaining shipyards of the country are also drowning in economic debts, such as Kraljevica, which filed for bankruptcy.
Perhaps the only Croatian shipyard, which is functioning properly, is Uljanik, for which the Government set up a scheme for employees to buy its shares.
Croatian shipyards employ over 10,000 people, nevertheless over the last two decades they have recorded losses equal to 3.7 billion euros.
Slobodna Dalmacija daily reports that, once the decision was made, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović sad that: “ there is no time to wait, the things look even too perfect for the time being. The future is difficult and uncertain, therefore, the new owners of the shipyards are heading toward a big struggle for the survival on the market.”
[mappress]
Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, July 20, 2012