a new big ferry for international lines? Jadrolinija and Croatia in EU

Hello everyone,
I propose two questions related with some effects of the next entry in EU:
1) what do you think about the opportunity for Jadrolinija to buy a big second hand ferry for international lines? Actually there are some interesting ferries on sale (for example: "Barfleur", "Pride of telemark", etc), now it's possibile to buy a new ship with State aids (when Croatia will be in the Union the international lines cannot be subsidized anymore and Jadrolinija at the end of 2010 will have only 3 ships suitable: Zadar, Dubrovnik and Marko Polo);
2) what do you think about new potential lines following the entry in the European Union, as for example Rijeka-Ravenna? If Croatia will adopt the Schengen treaty, the custom controls and papers on trucks and trailers at the ports will be zero (a lot of hours gained for drivers), this situation could open new opportunities that at the moment are not feasible (ferry lines primarily for trucks and trailers). Rijeka is an interesting gateway not only for Zagreb, but for Hungary and the other EU Countries in that area, Ravenna is the italian port of the padan plain (the more industrialized area in Italy and the primal agricoltural area);
Thank you for your attention and compliments for the nice forum.
Andrew

classens je napisao/la:

Hello everyone,
I propose two questions related with some effects of the next entry in EU:
1) what do you think about the opportunity for Jadrolinija to buy a big second hand ferry for international lines? Actually there are some interesting ferries on sale (for example: "Barfleur", "Pride of telemark", etc), now it's possibile to buy a new ship with State aids (when Croatia will be in the Union the international lines cannot be subsidized anymore and Jadrolinija at the end of 2010 will have only 3 ships suitable: Zadar, Dubrovnik and Marko Polo);
2) what do you think about new potential lines following the entry in the European Union, as for example Rijeka-Ravenna? If Croatia will adopt the Schengen treaty, the custom controls and papers on trucks and trailers at the ports will be zero (a lot of hours gained for drivers), this situation could open new opportunities that at the moment are not feasible (ferry lines primarily for trucks and trailers). Rijeka is an interesting gateway not only for Zagreb, but for Hungary and the other EU Countries in that area, Ravenna is the italian port of the padan plain (the more industrialized area in Italy and the primal agricoltural area);
Thank you for your attention and compliments for the nice forum.
Andrew

I will try to tell you my opinion about your questions:

1) Right now Jadrolinija is focused on rebuilding her local ferries fleet and they can't afford to buy new or second hand ferry for international lines because they have already spent a huge amount of money in the last six years on rebuilding local ferries fleet. As Jadrolinija is state owned, right now, there is huge recesion in Croatia and state is in no position to give any loan guaranties for buying a new ferries. And there is no need for that. Amount of traffic on international lines such as Split - Ancona, Zadar- Ancona and Dubrovnik Bari, except for a few summer months, is very low and current ferries meets demands, but it is obvious that they will have to buy new ferry in near future for replacing old ones like Marko Polo or Dubrovnik.

2) I don't think Rijeka - Ravenna is good idea. They are to close on road distance and there is no much use on saving time because there will be no customs even on a road borders.

I will add that Jadrolinija has already made arragment with Split shipyard to build two more ships in HRVAT class plus one that is almost finished
and will be ready for service in Zadar region before summmer .
And the first one who needs replacment is LIBURNIJA