Rijeka shipyard delivers oil tanker to Tankerska Plovidba company

The 3. May shipyard in Rijeka delivered an oil tanker to the Zadar-based shipping company Tankerska Plovidba on Thursday.

The tanker, named Velebit, is 195.2 metres long and 32.2 metres wide, and has a carrying capacity of 51,800 tonnes. It will sail under the Croatian flag. It is the first of the two tankers commissioned by Tankerska Plovidba.

The hand-over ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, as godmother of the ship. She said that the major project of reforming the shipyards was under way and that she was confident that it would succeed.

Kosor said that today's launch was the result of the work of the ministries of the economy and maritime affairs and the managers of the shipyard and Tankerska Plovidba, "who have worked together so that we would sail out of the crisis as painlessly as possible."

Kosor also visited the Kraljevica shipyard in Kraljevica, just southeast of Rijeka, for talks on the shipyard's plans and the government's efforts to reform the state-owned shipyards in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 8 (Competition Policy) within EU accession negotiations.

Kosor said she believed in the shipyard reform programme and that she expected "good news from the European Commission in May". "The most important thing is to get approval from the European Commission for the plan of reform of all the shipyards," she added.


(Hina)