ZAGREB, 5 January, 2022 - The state-owned Jadrolinija shipping company in 2021 transported 10.5 million passengers and 3.1 million vehicles, which is 85% of the 2019 result and 40% more passengers and vehicles than in the pandemic year 2020.

Even though 2021 was good in terms of business results, the company is cautious about its revenue estimate and expects revenue to be lower than in the pre-pandemic years.

Losses in 2020 were significant and the decline in the number of passengers and vehicles transported has significantly affected the operator's revenue and liquidity.

In December 2021 the government granted Jandrolinija support in the amount of HRK 52 million to cover its fixed costs.

Jadrolinija connects Croatian islands to the mainland by operating regular passenger and cargo transport services. The company also operates international routes across the Adriatic Sea to Italy.

The company expects 2022 and the next summer season to continue contributing to the recovery from the pandemic and to help it get closer, in terms of revenue, to the record-breaking year 2019 as well as consolidate its financial and business status.

Strategic goal - fleet development

The company notes that its strategic goal is the development of its fleet and that in recent years four ferries and a catamaran were procured.

Jadrolinija now has 54 vessels, of which 10 are catamarans, four are classic passenger boats, three are ferries for international transport and 37 are ferries for local transport.

The average age of the vessels is 28 years.

The company is investing in new technologies and plans to renew its fleet with vessels running on renewables.

In 2020 the company joined the Maritime Innovation Cluster or the Lürssen Excellence Cluster in response to the development of green technologies for its fleet.

Also planned is digitalisation of business processes as well as the launching of a new company web site.

In late 2021 Jadrolinija had 1,807 employees, and during the summer season an additional 185 seasonal workers were hired.

January 5, 2022 - Poor track conditions, especially in the lower part with strong winds, forced the World Ski Organization (FIS) to cancel the Snow Queen Trophy day 2 on Sljeme.

For now, the possibility of moving the race to Thursday is being considered, though it is questionable considering that the giant slalom in Adelboden is already on Saturday.

The organizers tried to postpone the start of the race, but in the end, they decided that they would not be able to go on. 

No matter how much effort the organizers put in to keep the ground solid, the exceptionally high temperatures over the past few days have taken their toll and jeopardized the race, and eventually, its cancellation.

The latest information about the Sljeme race was revealed to HTV by Vedran Pavlek.

"FIS representatives did not support the organizers' efforts from the early morning; they came very negatively in the morning. We did everything possible; the trail was in excellent condition. The wind stopped exactly around 12 or 1 pm; around 2:15 pm, the northeast wind started. We were looking for patience. When we started number one, the track was already 10 inches harder. The trail was getting firmer, but they did not want to accept what was there. The race is planned for tomorrow, the first run at 1 pm, the second at 4:10 pm. Snow is coming tonight, and it'll be -2; it should be freezing. We need to find time, but we are on the right track," Pavlek believes.

He pointed out that the FIS representatives did not have the patience:

"There was not enough patience. We grew up on this mountain. The forecast for five days showed a rapid drop in temperature. It just took patience and confidence."

What are the odds of racing tomorrow?

"Plan B is quite safe; we have the support of the FIS, they gave us the green light, now it's just a matter of television companies. Representatives of the national teams gave excellent support; some were negative. But that's not the topic; you don't need to ask the coaches about it; slalom is not dangerous, it's not downhill, lives are not in danger. We are working on plan B, and I believe we will succeed. See you tomorrow," concluded Pavlek.

This was supposed to be the 13th edition of the men's slalom for the Snow Queen Trophy. Depending on the weather and the conditions on the track, we will see if the men's slalom race will go on at all this year.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

January 5, 2022 - Split Airport is the busiest Croatian airport in 2021, dethroning Zagreb Airport for the first time in history! 

The three leading Croatian airports, Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik, published their monthly statistics for December, thus rounding off the annual statistics for 2021. Split Airport has confirmed its status as the busiest Croatian airport in 2021!

As Croatian Aviation already announced a few months ago, Split Airport is now officially the busiest airport in the Republic of Croatia. Namely, in 2021, a total of 1,577,584 passengers traveled through the airport. On the other hand, Zagreb, which has always been busier than Split, recorded 173 thousand fewer passengers than Split Airport in 2021. 

In December 2021, 24,568 passengers passed through Split Airport, which is significantly more than in December 2020 (only 8,665 passengers). As expected, the largest number of passengers was generated by Split in the summer months, and August was the busiest with almost half a million passengers.

Unlike the 2021 airport champion, Zagreb was not as busy in summer, though August was the most active month with only 194 thousand passengers. In December 2021, almost 180 thousand passengers traveled through Zagreb, which is an increase of 138 thousand compared to the same month in 2020. In 2021, a total of 1,404,478 passengers traveled through the Franjo Tuđman passenger terminal.

The third-busiest airport is Dubrovnik. In 2021, Dubrovnik recorded 927,934 passengers. In December, 11,738 passengers traveled through Dubrovnik Airport (4,325 passengers during the same month in 2020). As Croatian Aviation announced a few months ago, it was difficult to expect that Dubrovnik would exceed one million passengers in 2021.

Dubrovnik generated 597,787 passengers more than in 2020, Split recorded an increase of 903,218, and Zagreb the least - 479,655!

In 2021, 3,909,996 passengers traveled through the three busiest Croatian airports. Although it may seem that this is a relatively large number, the same three airports in 2019 recorded 9,633,688 passengers. In 2020, Split, Dubrovnik, and Zagreb had only 1,929,336 passengers.

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

ZAGREB, 5 January, 2022 - It is in Croatia's interest for Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the European Union because that is the best solution for a stable and functional Bosnia and Herzegovina and all of its peoples and citizens, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said in Vitez on Tuesday.

The Croatian minister of foreign and European affairs is on a two-day official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on the first day he visited Vitez, where he met with Croatian officials from central Bosnia.

After the meeting, he told reporters that the goal was to analyse the needs of Croats from that part of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the ways in which Croatia could help them. He said that the main message was that Croatia could significantly help to make Bosnia and Herzegovina's real problems understood at the international level.

We come here with a message of respect for a single and sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina and for international law, and we are against any form of discrimination, against separatism and of course against growing unitarism. Therefore, it is important to ensure the political equality of constituent peoples and all citizens, said Grlić Radman, calling on political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina to work on reaching an agreement on amendments to the election law and on the implementation of all other necessary reforms.

The president of the Federation entity, Marinko Čavara, said that it was important that Croatia help Bosnia and Herzegovina on its journey towards the EU and NATO, as well as in addressing issues important for Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is very important that Croatia help that Croats in central Bosnia have the status of a political people in all state bodies, said Čavara.

ZAGREB, 5 January, 2022 - Croatian police officers will be helping their Slovenian colleagues in contact with Croatian citizens at ski resorts in Kranjska Gora and Rogla in Slovenia in January, the Ministry of the Interior said on Tuesday.

Two Croatian police officers will be staying at the two ski resorts from 3 to 16 January. The project, presented in Rogla on Tuesday, is called the "Winter Tourist Season" and it is a version of a project by the Croatian police "Safe Tourist Destination", which is implemented in the summer, when police officers from abroad come to Croatia.

A total of 839 foreign officers from 20 countries have stayed in our coastal area since the beginning of that summer project in 2006, it is said on the ministry's website.

Croatian and Slovenian police have been cooperating since 2013, and 20 Croatian police officers have stayed in Slovenian ski resorts since then.

In the ski resorts, they will perform their tasks in cooperation with their Slovenian colleagues in mixed patrols, the press release said.

ZAGREB, 5 January, 2022 - The USKOK anti-corruption office on Tuesday dismissed allegations by the National weekly that prosecutor Krešimir Ostrogonac had stopped the interrogation of Mirela Alerić Puklin, an indicted former prosecutor in the Agrokor case, after she said that she knew how USKOK had ended the Borg affair.

In its denial USKOK claims that Ostrogonac, a deputy to the USKOK director, conducted Alerić Puklin's questioning in line with the Criminal Procedure Act and the presentation of defence which the former prosecutor, who in November 2021 was suspected of leaking information from investigations related to Agrokor, chose herself in the presence of her attorney, refusing to answer the prosecutor's questions.

USKOK says that it can be concluded from the Nacional article that its author was privy to the content of the suspect's defence or a part of it and that the interpretation of the course of the questioning as described in the article is ill-intentioned. The prosecution recalls that under the Criminal Procedure Act, investigations are not public and that it cannot reveal the content of the indictee's defence.

Regarding the so-called Borg affair, USKOK says that allegations from the Nacional article about USKOK having discarded criminal reports in the case promptly due to political pressure are incorrect.

"Extensive preliminary investigations were conducted regarding a number of criminal reports filed in connection with the case, and decisions to dismiss those reports were made exclusively in line with the law and the results of the investigations, without anyone's influence or pressure," USKOK says in its statement.

Nacional reports that it has seen a part of the testimony of Alerić Puklin, a former prosecutor in the Agrokor case who was arrested recently, which shows that she wants to talk about the covering up of the Borg affair and details regarding the dismissal of a criminal report filed by former Agrokor concern owner Ivica Todorić against former Deputy PM Martina Dalić and other persons involved in that case.

Nacional adds that the case goes as high as Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, "because the secret group of lawyers who worked on Lex Agrokor and who later profited as advisors to Agrokor's emergency management, was formed on his order."

Former Zagreb County Deputy Prosecutor Mirela Alerić Puklin had worked on the Agrokor case and resigned after police found around HRK 4 million on her husband Goran Alerić in an investigation in the JANAF case, which is money believed to belong to former JANAF CEO Dragan Kovačević.

Alerić Puklin and her husband were arrested in November 2021 together with a former Agrokor Management Board member and indictee in the Agrokor case, Piruška Canjuga, to whom, as USKOK and police suspect, the couple leaked information regarding the state of that case.

Alerić Puklin is suspected of having given instructions, through her husband, who was an acquaintance of the Canjuga family, to Piruška Canjuga about the way she should proceed with her defence and the actions she should take in order to avoid criminal liability.

ZAGREB, 5, January, 2022 - Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman on Tuesday began his two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, with his first stop in the village of Križančevo Selo and Vitez, central Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Grlić Radman said that he had come to this part of Bosnia and Herzegovina to convey a message of encouraging words to local Croats and also to express Croatia's support to efforts to preserve peace and stability in that country.

In Križančevo Selo, the minister laid a wreath at the monument erected in tribute to more than 60 war victims -- villagers and Croatian Defence Council (HVO) members -- killed in atrocities committed by the Bosniak troops of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993.

"Innocent people were killed here. A horrendous atrocity was perpetrated, the elderly, women and children were victims. The perpetrators of such crime must be brought to account," Grlić Radman told the press after the wreath-laying ceremony.

He said that he would convey a message of support to the local Croats to survive in the area and underscored that Croatia supported the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its EU membership aspirations.

Considering the geopolitical state of affairs, the stability and security of Bosnia and Herzegovina is is in Croatia's interest, the minister said, underscoring that the status of the Croat people, one of the three constituent peoples, is essential for the stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Croatia also supports all the reform processes aimed at amending the election legislation so as to eliminate all forms of discrimination and inequality in election processes and to make it possible for the Croats, as the least numerous constituent people, to have its legitimate representatives as office-holders.

On Wednesday, the Croatian minister is travelling to Sarajevo for a meeting with his Bosnian counterpart, Bisera Turković.

This has been the Croatian minister's third visit to Sarajevo in two and a half years.

Grlić Radman said that the intensity of bilateral meetings, including the recent official visit of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, witnessed to Zagreb's commitment to fostering good relations with this neighbour.

In the spring, Croatia will host a joint meeting of the two governments with the outstanding issues on the agenda.

Croatia is the most reliable partner of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which can count on Croatia and all its experiences as a member of the EU and NATO, Grlić Radman said, highlighting the messages of peace and cooperation.

After Križančevo Selo, Grlić Radman visited the Franciscan monastery of Guča Gora and travelled to the town of Vitez for a meeting with local Croat leaders.

January 5, 2022 - Captain Duvnjak and Cindrić tested positive nine days before Croatia begins their European Handball Championship campaign. 

The Croatian Handball Federation released a statement that revealed that Domagoj Duvnjak and Luka Cindrić had tested positive for coronavirus nine days before the European Handball Championship, reports Gol.hr.

Duvnjak only joined the national team on January 1 due to his obligations in Kiel, while Cindrić has been preparing with Croatia for longer. It is not known where they became infected. Duvnjak complained of back problems from day one and missed training.

"Although the preparations of the Croatian men's senior national team for the Croatia Cup and the European Championship are taking place with the strictest epidemiological measures, the coronavirus has, unfortunately, penetrated our ranks, like many other national teams and clubs.

This morning's PCR tests, which are part of the commitment to the European Handball Federation before coming to the competition, revealed that two Croatian handball players are positive. They are Domagoj Duvnjak and Luka Cindrić. They are feeling well so far and have milder symptoms. Of course, according to the prescribed protocol, they were placed in isolation. All other players and professional staff members are negative and continue with regular training. Just in case, tomorrow morning, January 5, everyone will have PCR testing again," HRS reported on Tuesday. 

"We have no luck with that. We are implementing the measures envisaged in this situation. We conducted antigen testing, today a PCR test. The two players are positive, and the tests have justified their purpose.

Interestingly, these antigen tests were negative, we thought we were sure of that, but still, positive results arrived. Therefore, we will isolate the players and test ourselves later. Fortunately, there are milder symptoms, and I hope that they will get out of it quickly, but we can never be sure that they will be able to play," said the doctor of the national team Tomislav Kukina.

There is no need to waste words on how important the duo is for Croatia's game, especially Domagoj Duvnjak, who has led the national team for years. At the same time, the excellent performance by Barcelona player Luka Cindrić was expected at this Euro after injuries kept him out of Croatia' squad in the last year. However, they may both miss the competition. In the best-case scenario, they could return by the start of the championship if they receive the prescribed isolation of fewer than ten days and, in addition, must have a negative test. Both are vaccinated because players who have not received both doses cannot play in the Euro according to EHF rules.

Coach Hrvoje Horvat can call Igor Karačić or Domagoj Pavlović instead of Luka Cindrić.

As Duvnjak was planned to be used on the left outside, coach Horvat will have to think carefully about who to call if Duvnjak cannot play. The ideal options are Stipe Mandalinić and Ivan Slišković, who play very well at their clubs.

France and Serbia have also been affected by the coronavirus. As a result, both national teams canceled friendly matches ahead of the Euros. 

Due to injuries, France is deprived of three Olympic champions (Timothey N'Guessan, Nedim Remili, and Luka Karabatic). In addition, they may be without a fourth, goalkeeper Vincent Gérard, due to family issues, while Elohim Prandi was violently attacked on December 31, 2021. 

A total of nine positive cases among the invited players, including pivot Théa Monara, was revealed on Sunday.

The only good news for France is the return of four infected players, including Nikola Karabatic, who started training separately on Sunday.

Serbia also received positive tests on Tuesday. Infected players Vladimir Cupara and Bogdan Radiojevic and coach Toni Gerona, goalkeeper coach Dimitrija Pejanovic, physio Petar Radulovic and head of the delegation Milorad Krivokapic are in isolation and have milder symptoms.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.