Jadrolinija still looking for used ships, doesn’t build new ones

News

Several weeks ago, Jadrolinija strengthened its fleet with the new ship “Lošinj”, and according to unofficial announcements, the purchase of another large ferry is in the last phase. According to sources from that shipping company, the ferry should be a worthy replacement for the temporary “Lastovo”.

However, in both cases, as in all purchases in recent years, these are purchases from the used boat market, which is completely different from the previously proclaimed policy of rejuvenating Jadrolinija’s fleet with new ships. Moreover, the state’s desire as a shipping company owner was that such projects also provide an opportunity to activate domestic shipyards.

The ferry “Lošinj”, which transports passengers on the Lopar-Valbiska line, was built in 2010 in Greece and sailed in the area of Greece and the Black Sea. With its accession, Jadrolinija’s fleet now numbers 54 ships, and its average age has been slightly improved by it, to 28.5 years.

The Jadrolinija Management Board does not answer questions about the procurement of a new ferry that would replace “Lastovo”. This case is even more interesting with the fact that the “Novo Lastovo” project was obtained on two occasions through tenders; the first time from the Polish company Remontowa Marine Design & Consulting, and a little over a year ago again for a slightly smaller ship which was designed by Split company Classis.

However, Jadrolinija is not going to build “Novo Lastovo”, for which domestic shipbuilders were interested at the time. The Management, headed by David Sopta, gives an interesting explanation of why the purchase of used ships is a better solution for Jadrolinija saying that the construction of new ships takes a minimum of three years.

Jadrolinija further continues by saying that the choice to buy used ships is not only more economical but has a great advantage due to the speed of project implementation and the introduction of purchased ships in the fleet.

They also state that Jadrolinija is always looking for ships of “younger” age and compliance with all international standards, but also the needs of each line.

Jadrolinija fleet

Jadrolinija’s ships are regularly maintained during annual overhauls in Croatian shipyards and undergo strict controls by the Croatian Register of Shipping.

The oldest in their fleet is the motorboat “Tiat”, built in 1955 in Brodosplit and sailing on the line Šibenik-Zlarin-Prvić Luka-Šepurine-Vodice. Two years younger is the ship “Premuda” which sails in the waters of Mali Lošinj, and “Postira” from 1963 which sails in the waters of Dubrovnik.

The oldest ferry is the mentioned “Lastovo”, built in 1969 which operates on the line Split-Vela Luka-Ubli. The famous “Marko Polo” on the Split-Ancona line is also old for inter-Adriatic traffic. It was built in 1973. The youngest ferries were built in 2014 – “Brač”, “Kornati”, “Krk” and “Mljet”, while the oldest catamaran is “Karolina” (Vis-Split) from 1989, and the youngest (also the youngest ship in the entire fleet) is the catamaran “Jelena”, which connects Lastovo, Korčula, Hvar and Split, and was built in 2018.