Viktor Lenac Shipyard

The Viktor Lenac Shipyard (Croatian: Brodogradilište Viktor Lenac JSC or Shipyard Viktor Lenac d.d. (JSC)) is situated on the northern Croatian Adriatic coast, 3 km from the largest Croatian port Rijeka. It was founded in 1896, and was among the first in the world to deal with ship lengthenings. It is quoted on the with ticker VLEN-R-B.

Today it has three floating drydocks, one accommodating vessels up to 160,000 dwt, more than 1,000 meters of berthing space, a large offshore construction site and it specializes in ship conversions and gas platform construction.

In 1896 a ship repair facility for the merchant, naval and fishing vessel fleets of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was founded in Rijeka, the largest Adriatic port, under the name Lazarus. At the end of the Second World War, in 1948, the yard was nationalised and renamed Viktor Lenac, after a national hero who worked at the shipyard and was honoured by it.

In the late 1960s the shipyard was moved 3 kilometres to the south to its present location at Martinšćica Bay (Kostrena), which has an adequate water depth to accommodate vessels with deep draughts. The shipyard purchased two floating drydocks and cranes and put them in the bay. After this move, the yard rapidly developed its repair, conversion, and offshore capabilities. After a managerial reorganization in 1990, the shipyard was registered as a joint-stock company in 1993 and is today the only privately owned major shipyard in Croatia.

After being rescued several times by government guarantees, the company filed for bankruptcy in November 2003 with debts of 102 million euros, after the government refused to guarantee a loan of 12 million US dollars. The bankruptcy process was completed in 2008 and Tankerska plovidba Co., Croatia's largest shipping company, became the largest shareholder, followed by the Uljanik Shipyard, Croatia's major builder of car carriers and dredgers.

The yacht Galeb, used by Marshal Tito, has been berthed at the shipyard since before 2008. The city of Rijeka, which now owns the yacht, plans to convert it into a museum.

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Wikipedia