The small general cargo ship "Efe", which sails under the flag of the Caribbean island state of Saint Kitts and Nevis, spent eight days in the so-called internal waters of Montenegro, without being inspected by the police, customs and sanitary authorities during that period, nor was it officially issued a permit for so-called free traffic (free pratique) by the competent Kotor Port Authority.
As informed sources close to the maritime authorities told Vijesti, on January 13, without the required notice, without a local agent hired to represent the interests of the ship before the Montenegrin authorities and other entities, and without contact with the VTS service of the Maritime Safety Administration, which electronically monitors and regulates maritime traffic in the territorial waters of Montenegro, the "Efe" sailed into the Boka Bay and anchored at the anchorage of the port of Zelenika.
The Police Directorate claims that in the case of the ship “Efe” it acted completely legally and within its authority, stating that there was no basis for border control because the ship in Zelenica did not request “free traffic” with the coast. However, it remains unclear from the police response where the ship was and under whose supervision in the period from December 31 to January 13, or on what basis it re-entered the internal sea waters of Montenegro and ended up at the anchorage in Zelenica.
The Boka Bay, formally and legally, belongs to the so-called internal sea waters - for every state that has access to the sea, a particularly important and sensitive part of the national waters, in which an enhanced regime of surveillance and control of foreign vessel traffic applies.
According to the Law on the Sea, "a foreign merchant ship may navigate the internal sea waters of Montenegro for the purpose of entering a port open to international traffic, departing from that port, as well as sailing between ports open to international traffic, by the shortest usual waterway, in accordance with the regime of use of waterways."
The regime of using waterways, among other things, implies timely notification of the ship's arrival to the competent authorities, continuous communication of the ship with the VTS service and compliance with the orders issued by its operators. None of this occurred in the case of the ship "Efe" entering the Boka Bay on January 13, because the ship entered the bay and anchored in Zelenica, allegedly taking shelter from the storm that was prevailing in the Adriatic Sea at that time.
Such a procedure is defined in law as the use of a "port of refuge" and implies clearly defined obligations of both the ship seeking shelter from bad weather and the competent state authorities towards that vessel.
"A foreign vessel that, due to force majeure or distress at sea, was forced to take refuge in the internal waters of Montenegro is obliged to notify the Ministry - the nearest or available port authority or port branch office, immediately upon the occurrence of such reason, which will, upon receiving the notification, immediately inform the competent state authorities referred to in Article 41 of this Law. The foreign vessel referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article is obliged to inform the competent authority of the position at which it stopped, the reason for stopping and detention, assess and communicate the time of detention, inform it of the cessation of the reason for detention, the time of continuation of the voyage, provide an assessment of the safety of continuation of the voyage and provide all other information as requested by the competent authority," the law states.
According to "Vijesti", none of this occurred in this case, as the "Efe" entered Zelenik without contact with the Montenegrin VTS service and did not respond to radio calls from the operators of the Maritime Safety Administration. Despite this, the competent state authorities - police, customs and sanitary services - did not board the "Efe" or inspect it, even eight days after the ship arrived at the Zelenik port anchorage.
A prior inspection of the ship by the police, customs and sanitary authorities is a necessary prerequisite for the Port Authority to issue a permit for "free traffic", which allows the ship to contact the coast and perform any operations - loading and unloading cargo, fuel, crew, supplies or repairs...
Inspection of the ship by the police, customs and sanitary authorities is a condition for issuing a permit for free traffic, which confirms that the ship meets the health and safety requirements for unhindered contact with the mainland (disembarkation of passengers, crew and cargo).
“Efe” is a small cargo ship with a displacement of 1.381 tons, a length of 56,5 meters, built in 1998 in Japan. The crew consists of seafarers from Turkey and Azerbaijan, and officially belongs to the company Ege Lines Inc., registered in the Marshall Islands.
Although the ship was not inspected by the police, customs and sanitary authorities, a PSC inspector from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs came to it two days ago. Željko Lompar, which imposed a fine of 1.500 euros on the company - the owner of the ship, and 200 euros on the captain of the ship, because the "Efe" did not respond to radio calls from the VTS service on VHF channel 16 upon arrival in Boka.
Such action by Lompar is also a violation of procedure, because before the arrival of the police, customs and sanitary services, only the pilot who is introducing it into our ports can possibly board a foreign ship that is coming to our ports.
In addition to the fine, Inspector Lompar also issued an order to the commander of the "Efe" to immediately leave the ship from Zelenika and head to the port of Bar, where the ship, according to official announcements, was supposed to sail to unload the cargo it was carrying from the Turkish port of Derinče.
"Efe" therefore only arrived in Bar from Zelenika on Thursday, January 22nd, which means that it stayed in our waters for a full eight days without being inspected by the police, which are otherwise responsible for controlling and protecting the state border at sea.
UP justifies its actions - there was no free traffic with the coast
Despite the fact that the police do not specify in their response where the ship was or who was monitoring it from December 31 to January 13, they claim that the action was legal and within the scope of their authority.
The security institution explained that the ship was announced on December 22nd through the NMSW application, that police officers from the Regional Border Police Center "South" checked the crew and issued permission to sail to Bar, with the consent of other services.
They also state that the ship anchored at the Port of Bar a day later, where, as they claim, it remained until December 31st, when, also with the consent of the Port Authority, it was granted permission to continue sailing towards the territorial sea of Croatia.
"Given the fact that previous checks were carried out for the crew, and since there was no entry into the Port of Bar, and therefore no free traffic with the coast was obtained by the competent Port Authority, on this occasion the 'border control' that is carried out on crew members after the ship is moored at the operational port shore was not carried out," the responses from the Port Authority say.
They add that they monitored the movement of the "Efe" by inspecting the sailing route after the ship set sail and that they did not record any deviations from the usual route towards the territorial sea of Croatia.
The UP responded to "Vijesti" that on January 13, they were informed by the operator of the Bar Coastal Station that the ship, due to force majeure, had requested a place of refuge in accordance with the Law on the Safety of Maritime Navigation, and that it had been assigned an anchorage area in front of the port of Zelenika.
According to their allegations, there was no request for free traffic with the coast at that time, and therefore, they claim, there was no basis for conducting border control of crew members.
They point out that during its stay at the anchorage in front of Zelenika, the ship was inspected by the PSC (Port State Control Inspector) of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, who, due to a violation in the field of maritime navigation safety - failure to respond to calls via VHF radio station, imposed fines on the ship and the responsible person, and ordered the ship to head to the previously announced destination port of Bar.
“Where on 21. 1. 2026, with the approval of the competent Port Authority, it anchored at the anchorage of the Port of Bar.
After obtaining free traffic with the coast (issued by the competent Port Authority) by police officers of the Regional Border Police Center "South", a prescribed border control over the crew will be carried out.
The Police Department concludes that they have taken all prescribed measures and actions that were possible under the law.
"In accordance with the announcement of the arrival, the necessary checks of the crew members were carried out, during which it was determined that they meet the conditions for entry into Montenegro. The border control of the crew was not carried out because so far there has been no free traffic of the ship or crew with the coast. If free traffic with the coast is approved, which approval is within the jurisdiction of the Port Authority, the officers of the Border Police Sector have the legal basis to conduct border control, which will be done," the UP stated.
NOTE: In the printed edition of "Vijesti", Siniša Luković was incorrectly signed as the author of the photograph. We apologize to the author of the photograph, Drago Krivokapić, and to the readers for the error.
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