Over 42 million euros have been invested in the Adriatic 42 (A60) mega and superyacht repair shipyard in Bijela so far, which is twice as much as the investor's obligation under the concession agreement.
This company is a joint venture investment between the shipbuilding corporation DryDocks World Dubai and Tivat-based Porto Montenegro, backed by the state investment fund Investment Corporation of Dubai ICD.
A42 is being developed in Bijela on the foundations of the former state-owned Adriatic Shipyard, which was liquidated in bankruptcy, and its new owners have focused on developing the offer of repair services oriented primarily to expensive and luxury vessels such as mega and super yachts. In its current third year of operation, A42 has about a hundred employees and hires between 200 and 250 subcontractors, 95 percent of whom are local contractors and companies from Boka Kotorska and Montenegro.
A42 leaders, CEO Eric Ribert Pelard, General Manager Zoran Stanjević and Commercial Director Milan Bošković, organized a press conference and a tour of the shipyard for representatives of the Montenegrin media.
"By investing in new equipment, hiring experienced local people from the maritime and shipbuilding fields, and emphasizing environmental protection and the best possible quality of services, which is insisted on by the owners of prestigious and expensive vessels such as mega and superyachts, we have managed to achieve that A42, with its technological capabilities and capacities, is currently a support and value for the entire state of Montenegro when it comes to technical aspects of maritime affairs. We have the largest floating dock in the southern Adriatic with a capacity of 10.000 tons, the largest travel lift of 720 tons, and we have just acquired a mobile transporter that can transfer ships weighing up to 350 tons within the shipyard. Equipment and tools are constantly being improved, the halls of the former shipyard have been renovated, which house workshops and warehouses, and part of it has been adapted for dry docking in an indoor area for smaller vessels." - listed the leaders of the A42 shipyard.
"We are the best-equipped and largest shipyard in Montenegro and the only technical capacity that can meet the state's needs in just a few hours by resolving the consequences of most possible technical incidents or emergency situations with vessels in Montenegrin waters. We are the main logistical support of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Montenegro, the police and other state services at sea and we are proud that in this way we are truly becoming a special asset to the state of Montenegro," said Chief Executive Officer Erik Robert Pelard.
The leaders of A42 emphasized that their capabilities and the technical skills they have acquired in the meantime were recently demonstrated during the rehabilitation of the consequences of an extraordinary event - a fire that completely destroyed the luxury mega yacht "Ramonda" in the Portonovi marina. The remains of that 30-meter ship were towed from the sea and raised ashore at the A42 shipyard, without the slightest spillage of oil or other harmful substances from the destroyed yacht. After the work of the investigative authorities and insurers is completed, it will be cut up in Bijela as a secondary raw material, and also with respect for all environmental protection standards because it was a steel-plastic ship, which is why the construction of a special balloon hall has already begun around the remains of the burned hull of the "Ramonda" within which the final cutting of the yacht will be carried out in a controlled environment.
They emphasized that special attention is paid to ecology and energy sustainability, so instead of the previous method of removing paint and corrosion from ships by sandblasting using grit, A42 uses the most modern water washing method under pressure of up to 3.000 bars. This water and the material removed from the ship are collected in special tanks4 and handed over to the company "Hemosan", which is authorized and certified for the treatment of these and other waste materials. A42 will soon complete its own system for collecting and separating waste from water cleaning of ship hulls, and the company has applied to the authorities in the Government and EPCG to install photovoltaic panels on the large roof surface of its halls and build its own small solar power plant. In painting the underwater part of the ships, only environmentally acceptable antifouling paints that do not contain copper are used.
"We are recording a significant increase in client interest and the number of concluded deals. In the first year of business, we repaired 22 vessels-yachts longer than 30 meters, in the second year 26, while in this year we are already at the figure of 27 completed repair operations of ships longer than 30 meters. We are not counting the number of these smaller vessels that we have worked on and are working on," said General Manager Zoran Stanjević, adding that due to the circumstances prevailing in the world of elite yachting, most of their clients and the names of their yachts are protected by confidentiality agreements.
"However, we can share with the public some of those names that are among the most significant jobs and greatest references of A42 so far: the overhaul and docking of the largest sail-powered yacht in the world, the 108-meter "Black Pearl", and the complete overhaul of one of the most beautiful and oldest active classic yachts in the world - the 46-meter-long ship "Kalisuma", which was built back in 1906 and once belonged to the famous actor Richard Burton. We are especially proud of that job, which included extensive work on the wooden elements of the deck, where our subcontractor, the experienced old master carpenter Duško Lazarević from Bigova, managed to achieve that the new parts he made do not differ at all, but fit perfectly with the old ones that have been on that ship for almost 120 years," Stanjević pointed out.
He singled out the current project of general overhaul and detailed renovation of a 46-meter iron-aluminum sailboat from the Italian shipyard Perini Navi as extremely important, which is worth millions because it is a 35-year-old yacht, as well as the upcoming docking of a 110-meter ship, about which he could not provide further details due to signed confidentiality agreements.
"We are especially proud of the fact that we have completed the overhauls of the patrol ship P-105 "Durmitior" and the offshore tugboat PR-41 "Orada" of the Navy of the Montenegrin Armed Forces, which were extremely complex and took longer because, due to their age and neglect, additional jobs were constantly "opened" on the ships, and many of the parts we needed for them are no longer produced but had to be made to special order. After the successful completion of these two projects, we are not afraid to tackle any other overhaul that our clients request," said Stanjević, adding that A42 has also established direct cooperation with some of the most renowned manufacturers and yacht builders such as "Azimut-Bennetty", "San Lorenzo" on whose behalf it removes defects during the warranty period on the vessels of these manufacturers.
A42 has signed a multi-year cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Defense because this company is the only one in the country that can provide a complete overhaul service for all vessels of the Navy of the Republic of Montenegro with its own capacities. Cooperation has been established with secondary vocational schools in Tivat and Kotor, as well as with the Maritime Faculty, in the field of conducting part of the practical training and visits to shipyards by pupils and students, and work is also underway to establish special curricula for new majors that will educate specialist personnel needed by the A42 shipyard and the luxury yacht repair and maintenance industry.
Commercial Director Milan Bošković emphasized that they have special advantages and are trying to meet the needs of domestic maritime entrepreneurs - fishermen, owners of tourist and excursion vessels, as well as the state ferry company.
GRIT IS STILL A PROBLEM, "VALGO" HAS NOT REMOVED EVERYTHING
Erik Robert Pelard said that A42 has still not taken over the entire space of the former Adriatic Shipyard that was given to them as a concession because the state has not yet fully implemented its obligation to remove all quantities of used old grit from ship sandblasting from the northern part of that complex.
"This is not such a problem for us at this stage of work, but it is a problem for the implementation of the upcoming second phase of investments and the expansion of the shipyard's capacity. In any case, we expect the Government to resolve this and remove the remaining material," said Pelard, adding that he does not know exactly how much residual grit is being processed, but that the grit is covered and stored so that it cannot be spread around the environment.
Although the competent Montenegrin state authorities claimed last year that "after more than 40 years, the area of the former Bijela shipyard has been cleared of grit," for which the state paid over 2018 million euros to the French company "Valgo" under a contract concluded in 23, this work has not been completed, as evidenced by another remaining pile of grit covered with tarpaulins north of the A42 shipyard hall.
NO COMMENT IS DRYDOCKS WORLD EXITING FROM THE PROJECT?
When asked by "Viesti" to confirm or deny the information that the shipbuilding corporation Drydocks World Dubai intends to exit the ownership structure of A42 and the project in Bijela, and that complete ownership will be taken over by the ICD corporation, which owns Porto Montenegro, Pelard could not provide further details.
"I can say that negotiations are currently underway between the two owners of capital in A42 about this, as well as with the Government, but at this moment I cannot tell you more about it. For us, but also for the wider public, it is not crucial who the owners are and how they resolve these matters between themselves, but rather that whoever takes over A42 wants to invest in the further development of this company that has already achieved excellent results," he concluded.
Bonus video:
