The former shipyard for boats in Bijela - Montenegro has recently been owned by the company under the working name of Montenegro Yacht Services (MYS). MYS was created as a consortium of renowned Dutch shipbuilding companies Damen and Porto Montenegro, who signed the Concession Agreement for the 30-years period with the Government of Montenegro.
 |
| The planned layout of the future yacht center at the site of Shipyard in Bijela |
The agreed prerequisite for starting MYS is that the French company ''Vlago'' completes environmental remediation with a deadline in March 2020. Remediation involves the removal of about 150 thousand tons of grit and contaminated soil land from Bijela.
However, the company states that there is a possibility of starting the provision of services even prior to the completion of remediation.
 |
| David Margason, CEO of Adriatic Marinas |
''The Concession Agreement entitles MYS, if such a possibility exists, to start with business activity even prior to the completion of remediation. Therefore, our plan is to start with the organization of the entire system, to employ first workers and carry out preliminary activities, so that we start already by the end of this year with the provision of certain types of repair services in Bijela, which can be carried out on berthed vessels, without lifting them from the sea. We are thinking about working on larger yachts, already by the end of the year, which would be berthed along the main shipyard jetty on the west side, where the Adriatic Shipyard Bijela floating docks used to be. The plan is to offer, at the same time, the services of lifting smaller yachts from the sea by mobile cranes and the services of their repair. It all depends, however, on the ability to provide to our clients the highest possible quality of services, as good reputation and maintaining of a good reputation is the key thing for Damen", said Margason, CEO of Adriatic Marinas.
After Qatar, Montenegro will be the first country to have a load-out recovery dock, which will guarantee the highest level of service for mega and superyacht owners in this area.
According to Margason, a load out recovery dock will arrive in Bijela in the first half of next year. This is a completely new floating dock that will build by Damen. The MYS will function in a way that a yacht lifted from the sea to the dock for repair purposes will then be transported by special multi-wheelers to the operational shore or to the workshops. The new floating dock must have a very sophisticated ballast system that will ensure its stability and stability of the lifted yacht at the moments of load and stability shifting, while the yacht is transported from the dock to the shore and vice versa.
At the moment, there is only one so-called load-out recovery dock in the world and it is located in Qatar. In addition, the dock will also have internal tanks for collecting water and material from the lifted yachts, so it would not get into the sea when washing yachts.
As stated, temporary position of the load-out dock is planned, until the shipyard's remediation is not completed. Meanwhile, the necessary construction works will be carried out to put the dock on its permanent position and to strengthen the operational shore and platform, so that they can withstand considerable loads of ships. The new dock will have the 3,000-tonne lifting capacity and will have a modular structure, which means that, if nessesary, it will be extended later on by simply adding new sections, so it can extend by simple adding new sections, up to the total length of 150 meters and increase its lifting capacity to 7,000 tons. Later on, the shipyard capacity will be complemented by the construction of a new travel lift. The business plan states that MYS will concentrate on overhauling steel and aluminum yachts, over 30 meters in length.
They believe that the main value of the new project is in Damen's renown.
''We believe that the key value of the new Bijela project is the reputation and quality associated with Damen’s name around the globe. Its internationally recognized skills in the area of construction, building and refit of all types of yachts, and especially mega- and superyachts through their Amels brand that is one of the three strongest brands in the yachting industry in the world, make the arrival of Damen in Bijela not only excellent news for Porto Montenegro but also for Montenegro in its entirety'', said Margason.
If everything goes according to plan, Montenegro will soon be a competitive country in the field of overhaul of mega and super yachts, which opens up a whole range of opportunities for the progress and development of the Montenegrin economy and the revitalization of repair activities.