Public procurement for the construction of the ship was announced last spring, but the bids were higher than the allocated funds.
According to meteorologists, winter should not show its teeth until the first half of January. It is expected that, as Nedeljko Todorovic says, snow will snow at the end of December, that there will be rain and snow in January, but there will be no cold days to create ice cover on larger rivers. This forecast for next month goes to the competent from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, because Serbia still has only one icebreaker. If necessary, for the purposes of the Danube defense, a Hungarian icebreakers will be engaged as before.
Although it was announced last year that a call for tender would be announced this February for the manufacturer of our large ice-breaking vessel, no further action had been reached.
– Concerning the construction of the icebreaker, public procurement was announced in 2019, but market bids were higher than the funds allocated at that time. Now, the necessary funds have been secured and the procurement will be announced in the legally prescribed period – said the Ministry of Agriculture.
The extent to which icebreaker production has now been provided has not been specified in the ministry’s answers, nor has it been clarified what the legal framework is when the procurement for icebreaker construction should be announced. For the construction of the icebreaker in the budget for 2018 was provided 300 million dinars. Otherwise, icebreaker prices range from one and a half million to three and a half million euros on the world market. The need to acquire an icebreaker emerged in 2017 when 588 kilometers of the “Serbian” Danube were ice-covered for a month.
It was then estimated that the purchase of icebreakers was needed and that Serbia would need at least two (though six were mentioned) multifunctional vessels that would simultaneously be an icebreaker, a lifeguard and a firefighter. It would also work in conditions of natural disasters caused by the appearance of freezing.
In all likelihood, the Danube, if squeezed by the frost, will defend our “Reef” owned by “Elektroprivreda” and the Hungarian icebreakers. A few days ago, a trilateral meeting of Hungary, Croatia and Serbia was held for the preparation and eventual involvement of Hungarian icebreakers, which has been done for years, according to the bilateral agreement in the field of water management with Hungary of 1956 and the agreement of Hungary and Croatia. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, funds are allocated each year to protect the Danube from ice. This year, they amount to ten million dinars.
Serbia once had two other tugboats – icebreakers “Chakor” and “Vucevo”. They were privatized in 2011. They were part of the Danube Group Aggregates owned by Dusan Borovica, arrested on suspicion that his companies were receiving illegal loans.
He also owned the Petrovaradin suppressor. Since then, these vessels have been dead for the river. Former pushers “Alexander” and “Kablar”, who assisted “Poplar” in Belgrade several years ago, are no longer mentioned.
There are several other thrusters in Serbia, but their use is limited because they only shred ice below 15 centimeters. Otherwise, the pusher and crew are in danger. We also have Bor, but he is not a true icebreaker either and is privately owned.
If a few years ago the Electric Power Industry of Serbia had not bought the Reef from the bankrupt company, we would not have had a single icebreaker.
Regardless of the fact that there is no more heavy rainfall or ice, the owners of vessels, cottages and boats are promptly informed to take care of their property for their own but also others’ safety.
An announcement on what to do to secure their facilities has already been issued by the Port Authority of Belgrade. Owners of floating structures, among other things, should strengthen and increase the number of buffers, anchors and mooring ropes, to ensure day-to-day control of the experts over the facilities.
Owners of raft homes should also control and strengthen their facilities. Citizens who have boats should haul their vessels ashore, and if not hauled dry, further tie them to the pontoons and dock.
