page_title: Atlantska plovidba
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Atlantska plovidba / History
caption_attribution_description: English: View of Dubrovnik
context_page_description: Atlantska plovidba d.d. is a Croatian shipping company. Founded in 1955 in Dubrovnik, the company works mostly in the dry bulk and heavy lift markets, serving both domestic and international clients
context_section_description: The history of Atlantska plovidba is tied closely to that of Dubrovnik.  At the outset of World War II, the fleet of Dubrovnik consisted of about 200,000 gross register tons (GRT), and represented about half of Yugoslavia's merchant fleet.  In addition, Dubrovnik had a financial stake in 30% to 60% of the remaining Yugoslav steamship companies.  However, by the end of World War II, only nine ships totalling 42,000 GRT survived.
  These nine ships were nationalized and given to the Yugoslav company Jugolinija based in Rijeka, leaving Dubrovnik with no merchant fleet  After several years, citizens of Dubrovnik petitioned Yugoslavia's State Executive Committee to denationalize the  fleet.  The state agreed, and as a result, Atlantska plovidba was founded May 27, 1955.
  In the beginning, the company was given seven tramp steamers totaling  35,038 GRT.  These ships burnt coal, were capable of six to eight knots, and were, on average, 35 years old.  The company took delivery of the ships between December 19, 1955 and 1957.
  The early post-war years were very profitable for the company, allowing it to reinvest in itself.  At the same time, the Yugoslavian government became interested in building ships.  This combination allowed Atlantska Plovidba to build a fleet of 20 ships of a combined 183,000 GRT by 1965.  In addition to tripling its tonnage, the newbuilding programme cut the average ship age to 17 years.
  After building several new ships at Trieste, and the shipyards at Split and Trogir, Atlantska plovidba scrapped the last of the original nine ships in 1970.  By 1975, the average ship age in the fleet was down to 7.5 years.  In  1976, Atlantska plovidba built their largest dry cargo ship, MV Jadran at 72,887 DWT, and in the 1980s, added 5 panamax vessels, increasing fleet tonnage by 310,000 DWT.
  From 1991 to 1995, the company's operations were disturbed by the Croatian War of Independence.  During the war, the Croatian ship registry was not recognized, and for a time, Atlantska Plovidba registered its ships with the Maltese Registry.  At the conclusion of the war, Atlantska Plovidba, was second only to a state-owned company in reregistering its ships under the Croatian flag
  By 2001, the fleet had a capacity of 779,378 DWT and the company started to diversify its operations into other industries.  Early on, it ventured into shipping agency and travel agency, and later into hotels and airlines.  The company owns three hotels, the Hilton Imperial,  Hotel Lapad, and Grand Hotel on the island of Lopud.  In 2005, the company founded a charter airline company.
  The company prides itself on its contribution to maritime education in Croatia.  It helped finance and open three institutions of higher learning, the Dubrovnik Maritime Nautical College in 1959, the Dubrovnik Maritime Engineer College in 1964, and Dubrovnik Maritime University in 1986.
caption: Atlantska plovidba is headquartered in the walled city of Dubrovnik.
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