FAITH IN THE CROATS Libyan leader Moamer Gadafi entrusted the task of build that country's fleet of navy and coast guard vessels to a single company from Croatia, thus filling the order books of shipyards in Trogir and KraljevicaLibyan leader Moamer Gadafi is saving Croatia's shipyards. That could be conclusion of the deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the Zagreb company Adria Mar and the Croatian shipyards. To make things even more interesting, these are not orders for tankers or similar ships, which require no added value. Over recent years, the Croatian shipyards are increasingly becoming home ports for the overhaul of Libyan war ships, and a place where new patrol ships, designed by the company Adria Mar from Zagreb, are being built for the Libyan navy and coast guard.

Judging by the comments of Mladen Saric, director of Adria Mar, the really big deals are yet to come. Above all, the Libyans are very satisfied with the quality of the already delivered PC30-LS patrol ships, and with the competitive price. Libya decided to continue the order with another 6 patrol ships. Saric told us that the next shipment will be characteristic due to their overcarriage, and thus will carry the new model OOB31.

Furthermore, this Croatian company is about to sign a contract for the construction of three 60 metre patrol ships (OPV60) for the Libyan coast guard, and these will also carry a helicopter. The Libyans accepted this project and it is currently in the project documentation phase, awaiting approval for financing from the Libyan coast guard budget. Each ship is valued at EUR 30m.

Adria Mar has also completed a design project for a 60 metre rocket corvette (MCP60), which is currently at the level of contract documentation, and awaiting approval for financing from the navy budget. From all the above, it could be concluded that Libya has completely handed over the design and construction of its own fleet of navy and coast guard vessels to a single company from Croatia, and given business to two Croatian shipyards, in Trogir and Kraljevica. However, this is not all. For the past few months, engineers of the company Adria Mar have been managing the overhaul of three vessels of the Libyan navy at the shipyards in Kraljevica and Trogir, a deal worth $US 50m. The rocket gunboats and large landing ship are already undergoing overhaul in Kraljevica, while another landing ship of the same class is in Trogir.

Nacional's team visited both shipyards and saw that this is not general overall maintenance, but a full overhaul, particularly for the two landing ships that in Libya had been completely forgotten and neglected. The landing ship now at Kraljevica is in somewhat better condition, while the one in Trogir was already written off. It is difficult to imagine their condition when they were towed to Croatia. When it was raised on the dock in Trogir, water was pouring out on all sides, and it was a great surprise to all that the ship did not sink en route from Libya, thanks only to the water pumps that were working at full capacity the entire trip.

In comparison with the overall of commercial aircraft, it could be said that this is a D-check overhaul, with complete disassembly of the ship except its 'core'. Several tens of tonnes of new steel were built into the core.

Interesting, this already written off landing ship will, upon completion of its overhaul, become the command ship for the Libyan navy and will have a special room for the commander of the Libyan military fleet. The defensive systems were also overhauled, as the ships were carrying weapons installed in French shipyards 20 or 30 years ago. The completion of the overall and delivery of these three boats to Libya is expected by this April.

In the next three years, Libya will deliver another five rocket gunboats to Croatia for overhaul. Libya has also accepted a project proposal by Adria Mar for a 60 m rocket corvette, and it is expected that a SHIPYARDS IN TROGIR AND KRALJEVICA are already busy overhauling three Libyan military ships, a USD 50 million dealcontract will soon be signed for ships of the same class as the gunboat currently in overhaul in Kraljevica. All the ship systems will be overhauled, with the exception of the guiding system by the French company Thales, which will be replaced by a new system. Given the volume of the future work, worth several hundreds of millions of dollars, including the construction of the new ships and overhaul of existing ships, not only Adria Mar stands to gain. This deal will include numerous Croatian suppliers and partners, and will secure jobs in the shipyards.

If a contract is signed between Libya and Adria-Mar on the construction of 60 m corvettes, this would be an opportunity for the Croatian coast guard to equip cheaper ships for the coast guard than those on the international market for patrolling the Protected Ecological Fishing Belt. The belt is currently being patrolled by inadequate and outdated vessels primarily intended for hydrographic research and rescue missions.

According to unofficial information, by spring, the Croatian Defence Ministry is expected to call for bids for construction of 40 m vessels for the coast guard. Give years ago, the company Adria-Mar beat out the competition from France, Italy, China, Spain and Great Britain in the tender to equip the Libyan coast guard with patrol ships. The first two patrol ships were built at the Lamjan shipyard on the island of Ugljan and delivered to Libya in May 2006 in the presence of Contra-Admiral Hamdija Swheija, who was received by Croatian President Stjepan Mesic. After the Lamjana shipyard was privatized and switched its focus to nautical tourism instead of shipbuilding, the company Adria-Mar began building its ships in Bakar.

The ships were developed and built according to the modular shipbuilding concept. All parts are constructed in Croatia or procured on the world market. There was talk that each patrol ship for the Libyan coast guard would cost between USD 5 and 6 million, though unofficial information is that the price was between USD 3 and 4 million, depending on the equipment ordered. Though the company lost 10 percent of the contracted value during 2007 during to the weakening of the dollar, they did not view that as a dramatic problem, as the most important thing for the company was the reference the Libyan deal would provide in international business circles. Other interested markets at Yemen, Cameroon and Indonesia.

However, given the upcoming privatization of the shipyards and the uncertain fate for the thousands of workers in the shipyards, the infrastructure where these special purpose ships can be built may become a problem in the future. Therefore, the company Adria Mar is interested in participating in the privatization of the Croatian shipyards, so it can finally find a home port in which to make its projects a reality, as to date they have had to settle for being guests in the Croatian shipyards.