The supervisory board of the Pula-based Uljanik shipyard has decided to terminate the strategic partnership with the Kermas Energija company and seek another partner who will be willing to invest in the shipyard's restructuring, the shipyard said on Friday.

The decision was made at a joint meeting of the shipyard’s supervisory and management boards on Friday.

The agreement with Kermas Energija was reached on March 28, when the company was selected among three bidders – the Hong Kong-based Asian Bond Ventures, and two privately owned Croatian companies, the Samobor-based DIV and Zagreb-based Kermas Energija.

Kermas, owned by businessman Danko Koncar, already runs the Brodotrogir shipyard in the city of Trogir.

Uljanik on Friday invited all interested investors to express their interest in a strategic partnership and recapitalisation in accordance with decisions reached at shareholders’ meetings of February and October this year.

Djino Sverko of the dock’s metal workers’ union hailed the decision.

“This decision could have been taken six months ago. The question now is how the workers will survive the next five weeks. They don’t have any more time to wait. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of blame shifting lately,” Sverko said.

A strategic partnership would help Uljanik implement a restructuring plan in line with a government decision made in January, when it issued a €96 million state guarantee for the company, under the condition that the group increases its equity (by bringing in a partner) and launches a restructuring plan.

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