The public company for the management of marine resources hides data on business expenses incurred in the past year by their newly formed Department for Maritime and Coastal Transport, which manages the Kamenari-Lepetane ferry line.
Morsko dobro announced on February 15, when it was one year since the takeover of the ferry line from the private company "Pomorski sabrojka", that since May 5 of last year, when ticket collection began, a significant income of around seven million euros has been achieved.
"This success not only contributed to the budget of Montenegro, but also brought significant benefits to the citizens. This is supported by the fact that, according to a recent market survey, over 85 percent of Montenegrin citizens expressed a high level of satisfaction with the Government's decision to take over this important resource," the state-owned company announced, without informing the public of the operational costs in the same period. of their Maritime and Coastal Transport Sector, i.e. what is the final balance of profit or loss in this business.
"Vijesti" asked Morsko dobro how much the business expenses were for the past year for the takeover and operation of the Kamenari-Lepetane ferry line, not counting the costs for the purchase of the fleet. No answer came.
That company spent more than 12 million for the purchase of eight ferries. To this amount are added the usual operating costs (salaries of workers, fuel, lubricants, ship maintenance, procurement of consumables and equipment, administrative fees...) that the company does not disclose.
Morsko dobr stated in a statement that the income of about seven million euros is twice as much as compared to the income that the state achieved during the entire 20 years, while this line was managed by the former user Pomorski sabrojc. However, Morsko forgets well that the state, from the former private operator, earned an average of 250.000-300.000 euros per year, which was the annual variable fee according to the contract that this company concluded with Maritime Transport in 2004, but also a total of nearly two million euros per year. from VAT, profit tax, taxes and contributions to workers' salaries...
The company did not respond to "Vijesti" questions regarding the increasingly frequent dissatisfaction of citizens with the significant decline in the quality of the ferry service provided by the company compared to the quality of the service provided by the private operator. This is noticed by everyone who uses ferries more often, especially the residents of Boka, whose daily routine is crossing from one side of the bay to the other. The "Vijesti" journalist was also convinced of this. Namely, at the ferry piers in Lepetani and Kamenari, there is usually a chaotic situation, where order is poorly organized and enforced when loading and unloading vehicles on ships, the ships are noticeably neglected, dirty and poorly maintained and with much more corrosion on them, the company's staff is most often unfriendly , and the toilets on the ferries are mostly locked and unavailable for use by passengers.
These days Morsko dobro completed the first two overhauls of ferries under its direction since it took over the ferry service. The ships "Kamenari" and "Lepetane" were sent for docking and overhaul to the shipyard Punat na Krk in Croatia, from where "Lepetane" returned to Boka on Friday. It is interesting that the company did not use the overhaul and docking of these two ships to change the visual identity of "Maritime Transport" on them and to establish its visual identity. Therefore, "Lepetane" and "Kamenari", even after the overhaul, are still in the recognizable orange-white color combination of the former operator, and on their so-called with skylights, these ferries still carry the marks and colors of their former owner.
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