President of the Management Board of Croatian struggling shipbuilder Uljanik Group, Gianni Rossanda, submitted his irrevocable resignation with effect from October 31, 2018.
Rossanda’s resignation was one of the demands from the shipbuilder’s unionized workers, who are on strike since last week. The workers are also demanding their outstanding salaries to be paid as the company management and Croatian authorities scramble to come up with a new restructuring plan for the ailing shipbuilder.
The company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday, October 31, that its account has been blocked again. The blocking of account is being announced as new members of the Supervisory Bard are appointed, who are expected to ensure workers are paid their wages for September.
A solution for the cash-strapped shipbuilder is being offered by Brodosplit, part of DIV Group, together with Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri. Namely, Darko Pappo, member of DIV’s board, confirmed to World Maritime News that the duo submitted a letter of intent to Croatian Ministry of Economy to express interest in Uljanik Group, comprising Uljanik and 3. maj shipyards.
As explained, the move is a response to the call issued by the Croatian Government to EU and local shipbuilders to express interest in Uljanik. The country’s Minister of Economy Darko Horvat confirmed to Croatian media that the letter was received. According to Horvat, the letter proposes capital injection and willingness to take over the management of Uljanik’s restructuring process. However, concrete details were not revealed.
Should new partners be approved they would have to join forces with Danko Koncar-led Kermas Energija, which was selected as Uljanik’s strategic partner for the restructuring process in May 2018.
World Maritime News has approached all three companies for a comment on the matter. Fincantieri replied saying it would not comment on the matter at this point in time.
The most important thing at the moment is the revised restructuring plan that was submitted to the European Commission for consideration, according to Horvat. The new plan, which does not include the impact from the recent wave of order cancellations, calculates that Uljanik’s restructuring will cost 5.27 billion Croatian Kuna (USD 808 million).
World Maritime News Staff; Image Courtesy: Janko Hoener / CC-BY-SA-4.0.