Marking the celebration of the World Maritime Day, under the aegis of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) with this year"s motto "International Shipping - Carrier of World Trade", the Minister of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development Božidar Kalmeta, sends out the following message:
The Republic of Croatia is undertaking a number of activities with the goal to stimulate shipping, keeping in mind the integration of Croatian traffic routes in the European goods flow. Shipping is of vital importance to the world’s economy as on of the most safe and environmentally most friendly method of transport which by overtaking more than 90% of the international trade during the last years, reinforced its position as a leading factor of sustainable development.
That is why we supported the establishing of the Croatian Association for the Promotion of Inter-Costal Traffic Integration in July, 2005. That Association includes shipping agents, harbor agent"s offices, ports, the Croatian Railways, the Croatian Road Transport Association, and maritime agents. The main task of this Association is the preparation of projects for the shift of goods from road freight traffic to other forms of transport, especially to the more cost-effective and environmentally safer sea shipping. Starting with 2006, Croatia will join the EU program ‘Marco Polo’ making it possible for Croatian entrepreneur initiatives to receive financial support for concrete projects regarding the reducing of road congestion.
It is to my satisfaction that today"s situation in shipping is so different from the situation during the 90-ties, when our large sea carriers, due to the risks of war, had to register their ships for international shipping in foreign record files. It was the only way for the Croatian sea carriers to preserve their fleet. Those times are behind us, now. By establishing the modern Maritime Code we created the conditions for all Croatian ship operators to return their vessels under the Croatian flag.
We are very proud of the project for stimulating the building of ships on domestic building berths with a 10% State subvention. With that project it was possible to deliver 19 vessels from 1999 until today.
We are also working on the renewal of the white fleet of Jadrolinija, which will receive 10 new ships until 2008 with a simultaneous write-off of 15 ships and a 10% increase of its total transport capacities. This year we also started with the restoration of the passenger and leisure fleet for Croatian ship operators, small entrepreneurs. With this latest program the Government is motivating the building of the fleet of small ship operators, with the goal of enhancing transport integration, tourist offer and revival of small shipyards, especially on islands.
We pay special attention to the education of seafarers, to the living and working conditions on ships, and to motivating pupils and students to take up maritime occupations. By establishing the new Maritime Code, new conditions helped to reduce costs for securing professional education for seafarers. All this will be realized in cooperation with maritime educational institutions until the end of this year. Seafarers will be given the opportunity to receive their certificates for additional qualification through the regular educational process. After the ratification of Convention 179 of the International Labor Organization, follows its implementation in the labor and social law. That would help many seafarers, working on ships under foreign flags, to join the Croatian healthcare and pension system.
With the goal of popularizing maritime occupations, at the beginning of 2006 we are introducing a scholarship system for the best students at maritime colleges and for pupils at maritime high-schools. We are also starting a subvention program regarding costs for apprentice internships on vessels. We believe that all our efforts will help to secure the position of our seafarers. We wish them a safe journey!