Centuries of shipbuilding experience

Established in 1729, Kraljevica Shipyard is the oldest shipyard in Croatia. The yard builds large ships such as passenger ferries and asphalt tankers, as well as yachts and pleasure boats. Joseph Altham reports on a company that is building a passenger ferry for the harsh Canadian climate.

The Kraljevica Shipyard takes its name from the town of Kraljevica on the Adriatic Sea. Kraljevica’s sheltered situation, overlooking a bay, makes the town an ideal location for a shipyard. In the First World War, the shipyard built ships for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Later, in the communist period, it built warships for the Yugoslav state. Modern day Croatia is now preparing to join the European Union, and the Kraljevica Shipyard has good communication links with Austria and Northern Italy, putting it within easy reach of one of the most prosperous parts of Europe.

In changing times, the Kraljevica Shipyard remains committed to offering a first-class service and is now a major Croatian exporter. “Our approach remains on track to meet the most advanced needs of all our domestic and international customers,” says Jurij Vukelic, the Kraljevica Shipyard’s sales director.

The Kraljevica Shipyard has built passenger ferries for the British company Wightlink Ltd and asphalt tankers for various international customers including the Italian firm, Petrolmar. The shipyard not only builds new ships, but also performs repairs to older vessels. For ship repair work, the shipyard has a 575 metre long quay together with two gantry cranes. However, in the past decade the balance of the shipyard’s activity has swung towards new builds. “Most of our work is building new vessels, including ferries, yachts and asphalt tankers,” stated Mr Vukelic. “Today, new builds account for more than 90 per cent of the work at Kraljevica Shipyard.”

Impending privatisation

The owner of the Kraljevica Shipyard is the Croatian government, and the Croatian state ferry company, Jadrolinija, is one of the shipyard’s most important customers. However, the Croatian government plans to privatise the Kraljevica Shipyard. According to Mr Vukelic, the privatisation process is entering its final stage. Privatisation means transferring ownership of a valuable national asset. The Kraljevica Shipyard has a total area of 110,000m2 and two open slipways, as well as a covered hall, 2460m2 in area. Within the hall there is a completely sheltered slipway where section assembly and construction of hulls can be carried out for vessels of up to 60m in length.

Mr Vukelic acknowledges that the Kraljevica Shipyard faces strong international competition. “The Kraljevica Shipyard is under the same pressure as many other European yards to make the most of its resources and drive down costs.” However, with the aid of its skilled workforce, the shipyard can offer customers high standards of quality and reliability. “The challenge for us at the Kraljevica yard is the same as for our European counterparts: to keep our tradition alive by maximising efficiency, making full use of new technologies and achieving greater levels of specialisation.”

Strategic considerations

One tradition that Mr Vukelic hopes will continue after privatisation is the role of the shipyard as a builder of naval craft. “In the past, one of the main activities of the Kraljevica Shipyard was the construction and repair of naval ships of various types, made from ordi-

nary or high strength shipbuilding steel or aluminium, and always complying with the highest standards of construction. The shipyard is well qualified for building and repairing these types of vessels and our intention is to maintain this tradition on both the domestic and the foreign market.” Mr Vukelic argues that Croatia needs to preserve its shipbuilding capability for reasons of national security. “Bearing in mind the strategic nature of shipbuilding, it should be in the interests of the national government to intervene through purchasing and related policies like national procurement to ensure that its national independence in this key area is not compromised. This makes strategic if not always economic sense.” New orders

The Kraljevica Shipyard is one of Europe’s leading producers of asphalt tankers and is currently building an oil, chemical and asphalt tanker of 9015 DWT (dead weight tonnage) for the Dutch firm Tarbit Tankers BV. The new addition to the fleet is expected to strengthen the position of Tarbit Tankers in the market for the transport of bitumen. Meanwhile, on the passenger vessel side of the business, the Kraljevica Shipyard is now building a new passenger and car ferry for the Canadian ship owner, Transport Desgagnés. The ship, the Bella Desgagnés, will have six decks for passengers, fitted out to various levels of luxury. In total, the ferry will be able to carry around 380 passengers in 63 cabins, as well as 125 containers for general cargo and vehicles. The ship is intended to sail in Canadian waters, where the climate makes severe demands of any craft.

“The Bella Desgagnés will operate in icy waters in Quebec and will be built of ordinary mild and high tensile steel and suitably equipped,” said Mr Vukelic. “The biggest challenges on this project concerned electric propulsion, together with the dynamic positioning system and the interior outfitting. All this involved placing numerous highly sophisticated items of equipment in very narrow spaces.” n

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