EMSA: Numerous shortcomings in the Montenegrin maritime administration

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs is working to eliminate all deficiencies identified by the European Maritime Safety Agency inspection.

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Announced that they are working on solving the problem: Radulović, Photo: Ministry of Maritime Affairs
Announced that they are working on solving the problem: Radulović, Photo: Ministry of Maritime Affairs
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

The inspection by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) noted numerous shortcomings in the Montenegrin maritime administration, especially in the work of some of the seafarer training centers where "certain rules from the international STCW Convention are not fully or partially implemented or are inadequately applied", i.e. in the manner in which some organizations authorized by the state to control the work of these centers act.

"Vijesti" learned this unofficially.

Also, EMSA inspectors made significant comments on the way the state examination committees work in the Port Authorities in Kotor and Bar, namely the method of keeping and reliability of official records on candidates who apply and take exams for acquiring titles and authorizations in maritime affairs before these committees, after completing training in seafarer training centers.

European inspectors, as "Vijesti" has learned, have not missed the fact that some of the officials of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs have been in a direct multiple conflict of interest for years, because they are simultaneously representatives of the state administration that should control the work of seafarer training centers and lecturers in those centers where, for compensation, they train candidates, who later, again in their capacity as representatives of the state administration in examination committees before the Port Authorities, are examined and awarded certificates by these same people.

Maritime Affairs Minister Filip Radulović spoke yesterday with members of the Board of Directors of the Union of Seafarers of Montenegro (UPCG), which brings together more than 500 seafarers. The seafarers, according to the Ministry, expressed their expectations, especially in the area of ​​"removing certain deficiencies identified after the EMSA inspection."

"The Ministry of Maritime Affairs is working to eliminate all deficiencies listed in the report," the ministry's statement reads, but it does not specify which deficiencies in the Montenegrin maritime administration system were identified by the EMSA inspection during its last visit to Podgorica, Kotor and Bar.

The statement states that "Minister Radulović announced better days for the maritime sector this year by announcing changes to numerous laws."

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs has not yet made a public statement on this matter, although some of the shortcomings of our system, which were also noted by the EMSA inspection, not only have a detrimental effect on the ability and expertise of seafarers to whom our state issues certificates, but also have all the hallmarks of organized criminal activity.

The Ministry announced that during that meeting, "it was determined that it is necessary to work on digitalization in the Port Authority Offices, in order to facilitate communication and cooperation between the administration and seafarers, and to simplify the relevant procedures."

"The Ministry of Maritime Affairs is working intensively on improving electronic databases in Port Authorities. I expect that we will soon have a SID (Seaman Identification Document), which we are working on with representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is a maritime book that will be issued to seafarers, and which will help us create a register of seafarers," said Radulović, who, as stated by his office, expressed "satisfaction with the cooperation so far with the Seafarers' Union, saying that the good cooperation will continue in the coming period."

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