Bijela: Marking Maritime CEO’s first trip to Montenegro today we catch up with Petar Tusup, ceo of Adriatic Shipyard Bijela.
Adriatic Shipyard Bijela, established in 1927, is the largest ship repair yard in the southern Adriatic, located in the Bay of Kotor, one of the safest natural harbours in the region, with a long shipbuilding and maritime tradition.
With two floating docks, one of which is 250 m long and the other 184 m long, the yard also has a 1,200 m long wharf.
As well as repair the yard does get involved in construction of small vessels, such as barges, pontoons and work platforms.
A favourable climate, says Tusup, allows the yard to work all year round. Typically Adriatic Shipyard Bijela can repair somewhere between 70 to 80 ships a year.
In terms of expansion, the shipyard is focused on the growth of yachting in the area, gearing up to handle repairs of any yacht.
Another target area is the cruise sector. Having repaired a number of ferries the shipyard is heavily focusing on getting some cruise business.
“I can say that the demand already exists,” says Tusup, “as owing to our position, we are located in the middle of sea routes leading to the Adriatic Sea and the Central Mediterranean.”
Tusup is honest in assessing how difficult the ship repair sector is profit-wise, telling Maritime CEO “margins have never been lower”. There’s plenty of shipyards cutting prices amid “tough competition”, says Tusup.
Not only are shipowners trying to spend less and less time in repair yards but also nowadays they are asking for flexible payment terms and flexible price policies, reveals Tusup. [12/08/13]
