April the 11th, 2023 - Jadrolinija is set to purchase both new and used vessels for use in its fleet, an investment on which it is going to spend as much as 99 million euros.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, back at the beginning of this year, after several years of criticism from the wider public and indeed from some experts, the Croatian shipping/ferry company Jadrolinija finally resorted to purchasing completely new passenger ships for the renewal of its temporary fleet.
They will be built for the company a few years after it chooses a contractor, until the end of the year 2026, but a decision is still awaited on who that company will be from the seven interested parties who submitted their respective bids for the job at hand with an estimated value of 45 million euros.
In the meantime, rejuvenation continues for Jadrolinija with the quick solutions that have been mostly resorted to so far, by acquiring used ships. A tender has just been announced for the purchase of two such catamarans, for which Jadrolinija is ready to pay up to 14 million euros without the inclusion of VAT.
However, while until now vessels up to 18 years old were acceptable to Jadrolinija, the condition for these ships is that they must be no more than 5 years old. Catamarans should be up to 40 metres long and up to 12 metres wide, each with a capacity of at least 300 passengers, and intended, as stated in the tender, for international lines operating in the waters of the Adriatic Sea. Offers for these high-speed passenger ships will be being accepted until May the 3rd, 2023.
It's also worth noting that Jadrolinija has planned to invest a total of 99 million euros in their business plans for this year. The two catamarans that are now being sought from the used boat market should replace the existing old-timers from the shipowner's fleet, which currently numbers 53 boats with an average age of 28.7 years.
There are four ships currently on the list of ships that Jadrolinija intends to decommission during 2023. Among them is the ship Tijat, which is arguably the oldest in the entire fleet, 68 years old and slightly younger than the company itself, which celebrated its 75th anniversary last year. The plan is also to dispose of the ships Olea, Valuna and Dubrovnik (all of which are now over 40 years old).
Before it is sent to scrap, ''Dubrovnik'' is trying to sell itself off. Although the news was not encouraging at first, Jadrolinija says that one offer was received and accepted, and work is being done to conclude a sales contract. The initial price, by the way, stood at 2.9 million euros. In addition to the construction of three electrically powered passenger ships, the plan for Jadrolinija is also to announce a tender for the design and construction of another newbuild in 2023, namely a ro-ro passenger ship, the capacity of which would be 80 vehicles and 500 passengers.
The tender for that should follow in June, and the intention is to acquire two more used ro-ro passenger ships, one for the reception of 110 to 120 vehicles and between 600 and 700 passengers, and the other for 90 and 100 vehicles and 800 to 900 passengers. According to that plan as it currently stands, the latter would replace the Lastovo vessel, which is over half a century old at this point.
The start of the activities on the procurement of another ro-ro passenger ship, one for international navigation, with a capacity of 500 vehicles and 1,200 passengers, is scheduled for April. This ship should join Jadrolinija's existing fleet at the end of the year. Just how important the rejuvenation and modernisation of Jadrolinija's fleet really is, is best shown by the fact that three ships are over 60 years old. Along with Tijat, these are Postira and Premuda. Fast passenger ships over 30 years old (Olea, Silba, Novalja and Karolina) and ships that will soon no longer meet ecological standards (Dora, Sis, Sv. Juraj, Mate Balota and Lastovo) are all also now scheduled for replacement.
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