Luxury yachts instead of freighters and tankers

The intention of the company "Adriatic 42" is to restore the shipyard in Bijela to its former glory, and instead of container ships, bulkers and tankers, attractive mega and superyachts will come here for refit in the future, which will be provided with services at the highest level in the world. This was said by the executive director of "Adriatic 42" in an interview for "Vijesti". Paul John Gray.

Behind this company, which is the concessionaire of the shipyard port of Bijela, is Porto Montenegro from Tivat and the renowned shipbuilding consortium Drydocks World from Dubai.

"In order to achieve this, in the next few years we will make a large investment here. We have already invested about 20 million euros in this project, and in the next three years we will invest at least another 30 million euros, because we want to be the best refit shipyard for super and mega yachts in this part of the world. I have been in this business for over 25 years and have been in many similar companies. This industry has brought me both positive and negative experiences. We will apply the positive ones in Bijela, and we will learn from bad experiences and make sure that these mistakes do not exist in the future. With this project, we want to breathe new life into the entire locality in Bijela and the Municipality of Herceg Novi. That's the real symbiosis we want to achieve," said Gray

What are the dynamics of ecological remediation and the formal takeover of the location of the former Adriatic Shipyard in Bijela by "Adriatica 42", that is, the development of new capacities of your company?

The new shipyard will look completely different from what was seen on this part of the Boka coast in the last few decades. There will no longer be the kind of "industrial" image that the works on large merchant ships carried with them, but it will all look much more reduced and with numerous yachts in our service center, much more appropriate to the surrounding beaches, restaurants and catering facilities on the coast of Bijela. We already have huge interest from yacht owners, and when I say that I don't just mean small boats, but also some of the most famous superyachts in the world who are already talking to us. This has especially intensified in the last two or three weeks, when more articles appeared in the media about what we are doing and when people saw that something big is really being prepared here. It was very good to see the last grit ship that left here last week. We cooperate very well with representatives of the Government and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who signed an annex to the contract with the French company Valgo, which performs ecological remediation. They have already completely cleaned about a third of the area of ​​the former shipyard, i.e. all the area in the southwestern part, including the main wharf, workshops and halls in this part. Valgo has issued a certificate that that part has been completely ecologically cleaned, and now we are waiting for checks and confirmation from the EPA that this is indeed the case, so that we can formally take over at least this part of the shipyard and start the implementation of our project. Meanwhile, Valgo continues remediation in the northeastern part of the complex. We have excellent cooperation with government ministries that have supported us in everything, including the preparation of the Site Study, which is the product of a mutual intensive dialogue in order to obtain here, through the new shipyard, the capacity that the state wants and that we, as a company, need.

What is being done on the reconstruction of the existing and the construction of new infrastructure for the needs of the new shipyard?

We have started preparations for the construction of a new coastal infrastructure for the accommodation and operation of the future travel lift. The 10.000-ton floating dock, which we bought in Turkey, will arrive here at the end of April and we are now working to get all the necessary permits for its import and placement, i.e. putting it into operation. Work is also underway on the revision and preparation of the existing pylon-dolphins (fortifications) that serve to fix the dock to its working position. The maritime and port authorities are very helpful in advising us how to solve all this in the best way so that, when it arrives, we can put it into use within a week. We ordered a new travel lift with a load capacity of 720 tons from the well-known Italian company Cimolai Technology, the production of which has already begun. It will be delivered in late March or early April and then it will take 40 days to assemble it here on site. We will certainly do our best to shorten that deadline and speed up the putting the travel lift into use. A tender for the selection of construction contractors on the new operational coast - the so-called the pool of the travel lift, which will be built in the part of the water area that used to be occupied by the small floating dock of the former shipyard. Our ambition is to finish it all by May/June, that in the second half of this year the new overhaul shipyard would start operating and receiving yachts for service. With the new travel lift, we will be able to lift ships up to 50 meters long from the sea, and in the part of the shipyard that has already been cleaned, we have space on the shore for simultaneous work on up to ten yachts. Our goal is to refit approximately as many ships during the first year of operation. In parallel with these jobs, the so-called phase two of the development of the future shipyard, which includes the reconstruction of the existing halls, workshops and administrative space, that is, the existing buildings R-1 and R-2. It will be worked on from March to October. Hall R-1 will be our main indoor area for yacht overhaul, where we will work on boats up to 30 meters long. In parallel, the former transport hall and several warehouses are being renovated. By the end of October, we intend to clean and put into operation the entire area in the southwestern part of the shipyard, where the environmental rehabilitation has been completed. Such an ambitious projection pleasantly surprised the representatives of the Government. We expect that the upcoming nice summer weather and the contractors who have taken our intentions and wishes to start our activity as soon as possible, will enable us to achieve it.

What kind of workshops will you have here and what kind of services will you provide to your clients?

Our intention is to have the so-called a settlement of subcontractors where many of the companies that provide some specialized services in yacht overhaul will be able to bring their people and equipment and perform exactly such jobs on some of the ships that come to "Adriatic 42". We will not be able to provide all the services that a superyacht needs right from the start - for example, working on the luxury interior of such a ship, electronics or audio-visual systems is a very challenging and specialist activity. Therefore, we will outsource such services to subcontractors with a reputation in those areas, because we want to provide our clients with the highest quality of service from the beginning. Of course, we also see this as an opportunity to reinvest, that is, return benefits to the local community where we work. I have been in this industry for 25 years and she has always been good to me during that time. Therefore, I always wanted to create a kind of specialist school for various trades and skills in shipbuilding and ship repair. That's why I got in touch with some of my many colleagues with whom I've worked around the world, to come here to Bijela and help train the local workforce. We are also in contact with local specialist schools and the Maritime Faculty because we want to employ local people first and bring them back to the shipbuilding industry, which has a great tradition in Boka. We have already hired some of the experienced craftsmen from the former Bijela shipyard, who are a really important personnel resource for us. Recently, we have been receiving more and more CVs from people who are interested in working in our shipyard and who have the skills and knowledge that we will need on yachts.

How many workers in the new shipyard are we talking about?

In the next few years, about several hundred full-time employees. I cannot say for the first year with complete certainty because it will also depend on the number of overhaul jobs we receive, but we expect to have between 40 and 50 workers by October. We have already significantly increased the dynamics of labor recruitment activities, interviews with candidates for some of the management positions are underway, and our current priority is to find an adequate floating dock manager (dock master), who, apparently, are equally rare on the labor market as the floating docks themselves are rare on the used market for such technical vessels. Finding a dock master is very urgent for us because we want to send that man as soon as possible to Turkey to the Hat-San shipyard, from which we procure our floating dock, for training and familiarization with the facility. It is a used dock with dimensions of 180 by 37 meters and 10.000 tons capacity, built in 2017, which has a class of the Japanese classification society NKK. One of our founders of Drydocks World - Dubai has been on the market for two years looking to buy a floating dock for this project in Bijela. , but did not find anything suitable. We recently learned that a dock has suddenly appeared on the market as the Hat-San Shipyard has decided to sell its floating dock to replace it with a larger one. Therefore, we immediately hurried, went to Tuska, looked at the dock and signed the sales contract. It is a really good dock, modern, less than five years old, equipped with mobile cranes of 10 tons each, and we were very happy to be able to get it. It is currently undergoing the necessary overhaul work, painting and branding with the "Adriatic 42" company logo, so when it is soon towed to Bok, it will be a truly beautiful sight. I also hope for great satisfaction and happiness for the local community - completely the opposite of what happened a few years ago when two floating docks of the former Adriatic Shipyard, which were sold in bankruptcy, left here, like two coffins that a sad family sends out of the house. The arrival of our dock at the end of April will, I hope, be something completely different - bringing a "new child" and a new life to Bijelo.

Do you intend to purchase tugboats needed for maneuvering and manipulation of yachts during docking and shipyard work?

Here we found two tugboats - "Boka Bay" and Boka "Sky" and with their owner, the local company Boka Pilot&Tug Service, we signed a contract for six months to provide us with the services of these vessels. Of course, these tugs will be fully restored and reconditioned to take on this role in our refit center where they will work with some of the world's most elegant and sophisticated superyachts. We had other offers from abroad for tugboats, but I thought that we should give a chance to a local company and try to cooperate with it.

The biggest concern of the local community, when it comes to the opening of a new shipyard in Bijela, is possible pollution and noise. What will you do to reduce the negative impact of activities in the shipyard on the environment and the surrounding population and what technology will you apply in the work on the yachts?

First of all, there will be no more sandblasting of ships with grit, as was once done in Bijela. To remove the old paint, antifouling coating and clean the underwater part of the yacht hull, we will apply new and much less harmful and problematic technologies used in the world today. One of them is, for example, the removal of paint and coatings from yachts using dry ice technology or soda blasting, which does not contain secondary waste such as grit, which has plagued Bijela for decades. All of our systems for treating various types of waste generated during repair work are certified and approved by Drydocks World Dubai, which itself applies the most modern solutions for environmental protection. We will strive to use energy-efficient equipment and devices, and according to the Site Study we defined that our shipyard has much more green areas than was ever the case here before. Curtains will be used on the floating dock when removing paint from the yachts, and all by-products will be taken to special tanks of the coastal facility for the collection of hazardous materials, and none of the by-products of these works on the yachts will be allowed to spill into the sea. I have already worked in shipyards that are located very close or are in the cities and towns themselves, so I know what problems can arise there. We will apply limited working hours for operations on ships that generate more noise, and we will use other measures to reduce noise pollution. We will try to minimize our negative impact on the environment - of course, we know that we will not satisfy and make everyone happy, but certainly our attitude towards the environment and especially the protection of the sea from pollution will be one of the key and decisively important things in the work of the Adriatic 42 company. It is, after all, one of the core values ​​of our founders - Porto Montenegro and the Drydocks World Dubai consortium. We are grateful that we have the full support and understanding of the Government of Montenegro, relevant ministries and the Municipality of Herceg Novi for all our plans and goals related to the symbiosis of the company "Adriatic 42" and the citizens of Montenegro.

Repair and maintenance of yachts will extend the tourist season

Will the services of the Adriatic 42 shipyard be available to other clients, besides the yachting community, such as vessels of the Navy of Montenegro or ships of other state services? Namely, you will be the only place in Montenegro where a larger ship can be docked and inspected?

Our main business, as stated in the concession agreement we have with the Government, is overhaul and maintenance of mega and super yachts. That is what we are concentrating on now. As for the possible provision of services outside that market niche, such as, for example, the overhaul of ferries or military vessels, for now we will still concentrate on super yachts, but that does not mean that we will not diversify our services in the future. The same applies to the eventual construction of new vessels - for now we have no intention of entering into new construction. However, since the construction of new ships is my professional background, I believe that, without a doubt, there are also opportunities here to build new ships, primarily yachts, in the future. Nevertheless, the new construction of mega and super yachts is a very challenging business in which it is not easy to make money, if you do not know what you are doing and what you are getting into. Therefore, our main business will be the overhaul and servicing of mega and super yachts, for which, practically, we have a market on our own doorstep in the form of numerous such vessels that arrive or are based in Porto Montenegro marina and other marinas in Montenegro. It is a unique opportunity and advantage that "Adriatic 42" has - nowhere else in the Mediterranean do you have a good overhaul shipyard for yachts so close to one of the famous or luxurious marinas. Here in Montenegro, in order to overhaul and maintain a yacht that you keep in, say, Porto Montenegro or Portonovo, you only need a few minutes of sailing to come to our shipyard, instead of a few days of sailing from, say, Monaco to the nearest remotely relevant and similar service center for yachts. What has been happening in Montenegro for the past ten years, when it comes to the development of nautical tourism and elite yachting, is very unique and has positioned this country on the world yachting map, but it will only do so now, with the establishment of a modern and well-equipped repair center for yachts in Bijela, get full and real significance. This will contribute to the extension of the tourist season, because large yachts with crews will also come during the winter months for overhaul and maintenance work or class renewal. When more yachts and people on them arrive, you have significantly more positive side effects for the local economy - primarily restaurateurs, travel agencies, suppliers. So, I hope, soon the Bijela, when 20-30 larger yachts undergoing overhaul and maintenance are moored here, will be much livelier because the crew from those yachts will be looking for open cafes, restaurants, shops and other service shops, and it's all an opportunity for locals to make money.

They will offer residents of the Home in Bijela to learn a trade

What aspects of cooperation with the local community will you insist on?

Cooperation with the local community is extremely important to us because we want Bijela, Herceg Novi and Boka to experience us as partners and an opportunity for the development of the local economy. Incoming yachts and their crews will want more restaurants and cafes, a better offer in shops, a range of other services and this is an opportunity for the wider community to profit from our core business. We have already established contacts with the Home for orphaned children in Bijela and offered that institution all our technical and other help they need. We also intend to offer the residents of the Home the opportunity, when they reach the age of 15-16, to start working on weekends as apprentices and learn trades here at our shipyard, and that when they become of age and have to leave the Home, in this way we also provide eventual permanent employment and situation.