The Croatian shipbuilding industry hasn't been doing well in recent years. The Uljanik shipyard in the Istrian city of Pula has been the location of what has often looked like absolutely harrowing scenes of unpaid workers striking and demanding their hard earned wages, and that isn't even half of it. Following an extremely concerning and turbulent period, some excellent news has come out of Rijeka's formerly ailing 3 Maj shipyard - a new ship has officially been contracted.
As Morski writes on the 20th of December, 2019, the keel for this brand new polar cruiser, which is a sister ship to the one built in Pula's equally troubled shipyard Uljanik, is due to be laid out during the second quarter of next year.
The new vessel 3 Maj is set work on is a new polar cruiser for the Australian shipowner Glenn Moroney, the owner of Scenic. This more than encouraging news was confirmed for Novi list by the director of the 3 Maj shipyard in Rijeka, Edi Kučan.
The launch of this vessel should take place in the first quarter of 2021, and 3 Maj will be responsible for the building of the ship's hull and partially equipping the polar cruiser.
Details of the value of the contract are not yet publicly known, and the Rijeka shipyard's director Edi Kučan merely said that they were very satisfied with the deal.
He also noted that Moroney intends to build four more such vessels, which opens up the possibilities for further work for 3 Maj, Novi list reports.
Could this mark a turnaround for the Croatian shipbuilding industry as a whole in 2020? After tumultuous times and extremely difficult financial periods, as well as tussles with the state, it's high time that this industry in particular got a break, and 3 Maj's new jobs might just be the beginning of a positive change for the coming year.
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