Hopefully, the 2012 London Olympics will provide the much needed impetus that the Croatian ship-building has long been waiting for. Croatia, which once upon a time was at the fore-front of the ship building industry, gradually went into oblivion due to global competition, wars and bankruptcy of its locally owned ship building yards that were situated by the Adriatic coast. However, with Croatia’s Naval Institute bagging an order to build a catamaran for the London Olympics, there are every chances of revival of the fortunes of the Croatian shipyards.
This contract which involves styling a stealth vessel that is powered by a combination of solar panels and biomass fuel and can seat about 500 passengers at any given time has been further sub-contracted to Technomont, a private maker of patrol, tourism and fishing vessels from the city of Pula, by the Naval Institute. Considering that Pula shipbuilders are known for their specialized niches, there is every possibility that this project will give Croatian shipyards the much needed visibility.
Uljanik, another local shipyard industry and co-incidentally also of Pula is one more company which despite the stiff global competition has managed to stay afloat and recover its fixed costs without any external aid. No doubt, South Korean shipyards, the toughest competitors to the Croatian industry are known for on schedule delivery of better and light-weight hulls manufactured using the latest technology, but then Croatians are far ahead considering their inborn talent and skill for designing water-borne vessels. While some do allege that the government has done little to help the ship-building industry which is currently in tatters, including even skimming funds for elections, it is time the Croatian shipyards seized the opportunity now that Technomont has managed to put a foot in the door.
Via: BeyondBricks
