Today, the Montenegrin maritime industry is only a shadow of what it was thirty years ago, and the inconsistent state policy, especially in terms of personnel in the relevant Ministry, made it half way through the implementation of the current Development Strategy for the period 2020-2030. to the greatest extent, the state is far from the goals projected by that document.
The strategy carried out by a team led by the then director of the Maritime Directorate in the then Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs Majom Mijušković is a document that sought to provide development guidelines for every aspect of what is considered the maritime economy of a country in the world: from shipping, through port and transport services, education and training of seafarers, shipbuilding, maritime agency and other similar services, nautical tourism, fishing , mariculture, renewable energy production, hydrocarbon exploitation, to the protection of the marine ecosystem, and even such advanced fields as biotechnology.
The drafting of this document four years ago was welcomed by almost all actors of the maritime industry, especially its final message that Montenegro must turn to more intensive development of the so-called blue economy. However, today, at the threshold of half of the implementation period of the Strategy, it can be seen that most of the goals designed to be achieved in 2025 have not and will not be achieved. The reason for this is, first of all, the insufficient attention that the state of Montenegro pays to the sea and the maritime economy due to the completely prevailing awareness in the highest state bodies that sees the sea only as a medium for bathing and cooling off during the summer heat, and not as by far the largest and most valuable natural resource that this country has.
The achievement of the set goals was not helped either by the frequent organizational and personnel changes in the relevant state bodies (the former Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs, then the Ministry of Capital Investments, then again by the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs to the current Ministry of Maritime Affairs), as well as the selection of people at the head of those departments, who most often they had nothing to do with any aspect of the sea and maritime economy.
Maritime management without professional knowledge
From 2020 until today, the departmental Government body for maritime affairs has been led by an economist as ministers Osman Nurkovic (Bosniak Party), economist Mladen Bojanic (non-partisan person), master's degree in metallurgy technology Ervin Ibrahimovic (Bosniak Party) and a graduate engineer in biotechnology and technology management Filip Radulović (PES). Not one of them has any experience or professional attachment to a very specific activity such as the maritime economy, which cannot function outside of global trends, that is, to the state maritime administration system that must meet the standards imposed by the relevant world and European Union institutions.
The current Maritime Development Strategy, as initial data regarding the merchant fleet under the national flag, ranged from a figure of 142.000 gross tons, which was the total number of vessels registered under the Montenegrin flag in 2018. For 2025, the strategy projects the goal that the national merchant fleet will grow to 240.000 gross tons. However, according to the latest available data on the ship register maintained by the Directorate of Maritime Security and Port Management (UPSUL), at the end of 2023, the national merchant fleet had 113.046 gross tons. Bearing in mind that some of the vessels in the National Register were scrapped or scrapped during this year, and that there were no significant acquisitions of new or used vessels, it can be expected that this figure is even lower now.
From 43 to 4 beard
Today, Montenegro still has the same four transoceanic merchant ships that it has owned since 2012, that is, 2014: the bulk carriers "Kotor", "Dvadeset prvi maj", "Bar" and "Budva", the companies Crnogorska plovidba and Barska plovidba. In the meantime, not a single major new or used cargo or passenger ship has raised the flag of Montenegro, although the affirmation of Montenegrin as one of the so-called The "Flag of Convenience" which will be chosen by many foreign shippers due to a series of administrative and fiscal advantages, was one of the goals of the strategy.
For the sake of comparison, at the beginning of 1992, when the UN sanctions against the then FRY were introduced, Montenegro had only 43 large ocean-going merchant ships, with a total carrying capacity of 1.086.300 tons. At that time, the average age of those ships was under 14 years, they had an annual turnover of 108.878.000 dollars, and in 1991 they realized a net profit of 47,9 million dollars. Only the largest local shipping company - "Jugooceanija" Kotor then had over 1.300 employees, a fleet of 24 ships with 465.165 gross tons and ended 1991 with a residual profit of 28,7 million dollars.
Today, the four ships of Crnogorska and Barska plovidba together have 89.488 gross tons, and they employ a total of about a hundred sailors and staff in the company's administration. In addition, the two companies operate either at a loss or with a relatively modest profit, and most of the installments for paying off their ships to Chinese banks, which financed their construction, were paid by the state.
After Barska plovidba sold its ferry "Sveti Stefan" for scrap in 2013, and the ferry "Sveti Stefan II" in 2017, Montenegro was left without its only regular passenger-cargo maritime line and connection with Italy. Meanwhile, goods and passenger flows turned towards the port of Durrës in Albania, in the hinterland of which a modern road infrastructure was built, so now it is very difficult to make the Bar-Bari, i.e. Bar-Ancona ferry line economically profitable again ferries. Therefore, it is not surprising that Barska plovidba, which is struggling with finances, has not been able to buy a second-hand, let alone a new ferry with which to renew this line.
Seasonal sporadic renewals of the line to Bari, i.e. Ancona, on which Croatian or Italian ferries sail for a short time, and the introduction of short-term and unsafe passenger ship lines between Budva and Dubrovnik, which the foreign operator cancels whenever it is more profitable for him to send the ship to another destination, are extremely rare today. a poor substitute for what was lost.
Far from the planned transshipment figures
The goal from the current Strategy to have 2025 such vessels registered in the Montenegrin yacht register by 350 has been significantly exceeded, as there are a total of 494 yachts flying our flag, according to the latest data from UPSUL. However, unlike large and real merchant ships, the state has relatively little financial benefit from yachts sailing under its flag.
Cargo transhipment in Montenegrin ports for 2025. According to the strategy, it was planned at 2.594.776 tons for "Port of Bar", i.e. 278.140 tons for "Port of Adria". How far we are from those figures is shown by the most recent data that "Luka Bar" for nine months of this year has a figure of 1,39 million tons of transshipped cargo, while for "Port of Adria" (PoA) this data has not yet been announced anywhere.
According to Monstat, a total of 2023 tons were handled in both ports during 2.399.538, which is a 17 percent worse result than the year before.
Expecting that the situation will improve soon is completely unrealistic, bearing in mind that the "Port of Bar" suffered a major disaster this year when its three large gantry cranes were destroyed in a storm, and the Montenegrin road and rail transport infrastructure that should transfer goods to the port of Bar and from it to clients in the hinterland is outdated and in a catastrophic state, and is far from the needs of the modern business world.
How far the Port of Bar, with both of its today's separate segments, is generally far from its capabilities, is best illustrated by the fact that in 1983, when the reconstruction of the port was completed as a result of a catastrophic earthquake, its capacities were projected for a total annual handling of five million tons.
By the decision of the Government, this unique technological system is divided into two parts, one of which, "PoA", is owned by a foreigner, so "Luka Bar" and "PoA" are unnecessarily exhausted by mutual competition and additionally make each other's business more difficult.
"PoA", but neither the state statistical agency Monstat, have not published data on the volume of container transshipment in that part of the port of Bar in the last few years, which should be the main activity of "PoA", in addition to transshipment of general cargo.
In the past years, both "PoA" and "Luka Bar" transshipped containers, which led to protests in "PoA", which is owned by the Turkish "Global Ports", because that company claimed that the arrangement under which it bought the then state-owned company in 2013 " Container terminal and general cargo" guarantees a ten-year exclusivity in transshipment and manipulation of containerized cargo in Bar.
Initial data from the Maritime Development Strategy indicate a figure of 50.444 TEUs transhipped in 2018 in both parts of the port of Bar, while the goal halfway through the implementation period for 2025 is defined as 83.689 TEUs transhipped per year. Although this is also a symbolically small figure compared to the container traffic of other ports on the Adriatic, especially Koper, which annually "turns over" more than a million TEUs. Even such a modest goal is difficult to achieve, bearing in mind the weak needs of the Montenegrin economy for the import of containerized goods, i.e. the export of finished products packed in containers, the catastrophically poor road and rail connections between Bar and the hinterland in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
However, the cruise segment is growing significantly in our ports, so in 2024 a total of 476 cruise ships with almost 600.000 passengers will arrive in Kotor, and 15 ships with over 45.000 passengers in Bar.
Fewer contracts for the provision of port services
The maritime development strategy predicted that in 2025 the state would have at least eight concluded contracts on concessions for the provision of port services, but this was not achieved, and the number of those contracts decreased.
Decisions of the Prime Minister's Government Dritan Abazović several valid and valid concession contracts for the provision of pilotage services, i.e. the mooring and towing of ships with private companies that invested significant funds in the development of that business in the past years by purchasing new pilot boats and equipment, i.e. three tugboats of greater power: "Tito" were unilaterally terminated , "Rumija" and "Tara" in Bar. Now the state is threatened with significant compensation claims, and the fate of the newly acquired ships, which even slightly increased the anemic domestic merchant fleet, is questionable because they have no business today.
In 2007 and 2015, the government closed the two largest shipyards - "Arsenal" in Tivat and the Adriatic shipyard "Bijela", and in this way a total of almost 900 jobs were lost, as well as numerous technological skills of craftsmen and engineers. How lucrative this activity was, especially in the case of Tivat, where sophisticated and expensive warships and submarines were overhauled, is best illustrated by the fact that the final bill for the overhaul of the last Soviet warship, the mother submarine "Volga", which sailed from Tivat before the sanctions UN in 1992 amounted to 25 million dollars.
Shipyard "Bijela" had the highest revenue in 2008 - 27,4 million euros.
To date, the government has not even come close to replacing the lost jobs and skills in shipbuilding, because the newly opened overhaul shipyard for mega and superyachts and smaller merchant ships Adriatic 42 in Bijela, which is in foreign ownership, with its capacities and only about a hundred workers, is far from what which once had "Arsenal" and the Adriatic Shipyard.
Until now, the government has not found a way or the will to support in any way small local companies engaged in shipbuilding and the production of new vessels made of wood, fiberglass or aluminum, such as the Calafat workshop "Bokovac" in Bar, "Monte Marine Yachting" in Kotor and "Navar" in Tivat, although those companies have a quality production program that is in demand on the foreign market as well.
One navigation safety inspector, planned at least ten
The bad state in which Montenegrin maritime awareness is today and the even worse results of the Ministry in the organization of the maritime administration and control system at sea are best evidenced by the chaos that reigns on the sea and Lake Skadar, especially during the summer months. This year there were several incidents - collisions between vessels in which several people were injured. After that, it turned out that the competent state authorities have neither the personnel nor the technical capabilities to control the situation at sea, restore order in that area and effectively sanction violators. The Minister of Maritime Affairs laconically announced that the entire country has only one navigation safety inspector who should control the entire water area on the Adriatic, Lake Skadar, as well as navigation on the so-called internal waters. How much we have regressed and not progressed in that area is best confirmed by the data from the Maritime Development Strategy that in 2018, Montenegro had four navigation safety inspectors, now there is one, and according to the goals of the Strategy, there should be at least ten by 2025.
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