President of the Municipality of Kotor Vladimir Jokic and the executive director of the Port of Kotor company, which is majority owned by the Municipality, Ljubo Radovic They addressed a joint letter to the managements of the cruise holdings Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) and TUI Cruises, asking them to in future pay the Kotor company directly from the member companies of those two holdings for port services provided to their ships in Kotor.
The reason for this address is the fact that the Port of Kotor is currently claiming more than 800.000 euros for services provided to ships of companies from these two holdings, whose agent in Montenegro is the company Allegra Montenegro from Bar, which told "Vijesti" that this is a violation of their business reputation and favoritism of the Port of Kotor's own maritime agency, the company Kotormar.
"Vijesti" has access to a letter in which the NLC management was informed that as of April 25 this year, the total unpaid debt for port services provided to NCL Holdings ships amounts to almost 355 thousand euros. Of this, 217.445,20 euros relate to ships of the company "Norwegian Cruse Line", 85.964,95 euros to ships of the company "Oceania Cruises", while 42.324,82 euros relate to ships of the company "Regent Seven Seas Cruises".
Debts
The letter sent to TUI Cruises states that as of April 25, the Port of Kotor claims more than 473 thousand euros, of which 210.888,47 euros relate to unpaid services provided to TUI Cruises ships, and 262.745,76 euros for services provided to Marella Cruises ships.
Jokić and Radović stated in the letter that the Port of Kotor has initiated proceedings before the competent court in Montenegro in order to collect the claim. “Unfortunately, the port agent Allegra Montenegro continues to refuse to settle the obligations for the services provided to your companies and transfer the money to the account of the Port of Kotor which we believe was paid to this port agent,” the letter states.
In order to overcome the bad business relations with the Bar company, Jokić and Radović proposed that the two holding companies, for all ships of companies from their composition that visit Kotor, provide the Port of Kotor management with data with the exact name of the ship owner/ship operator, the address of the ship operator's headquarters, registration (PIB) number, VAT number, as well as the e-mail address for receiving invoices, so that this year the Port of Kotor could deliver invoices with payment instructions from abroad for services performed directly to those companies for payment.
Jokić and Radović asked the management of the two cruising holdings to oblige the companies within them, which are represented in Montenegro as a port agent by Allegra Montenegro, to settle the debt.
In the maritime business, it is common practice that almost every single ship belonging to a particular cruise company or corporation, in order to reduce liability and other financial benefits for the owner, is formally registered with a separate company as the owner, or manager (operator). It is also the practice that shipowners pay for services provided to their vessels through their port agents in certain countries, whereby invoices that third parties have for the ship are delivered to the agent, and he forwards them to the owner company where these invoices are then reviewed and finally approved for payment, which is again realized through the agent. If the management of the cruise holding accepts the demands of Jokić and Radović, it would mean a complete change in this practice and the “elimination” of the authorized port agent of these two holdings in Montenegro from intermediation in their business with the Port of Kotor AD.
The Allegra Montenegro company assessed this action by Jokić and Radović as an "attempt to obstruct the company's business operations", "damage to its business reputation" and favoritism towards the Port of Kotor's own maritime agency, the company Kotormar.
You also need to have tolerance.
"With this action, the Port of Kotor is trying to diminish the reputation and role of Allegra Montenegro, which this year accounts for two-thirds of ship agency work in that port. We would like to remind you that the season before last, the director of the Port of Kotor refused to issue permits for entry into the port to Allegra Montenegro agents without any legal basis, which clearly shows the continuity of actions directed against legitimate business. Given the large traffic and significant number of ships involved, it is obvious that the Port of Kotor, in addition to the existing monopoly in the field of ship pilotage and boat transport to anchorages, now also takes over the activity of port agency, offering its agency Kotormar directly to cruise companies and trying to push other agencies out of this business," the Allegra agency told "Vijesti".
The company states that they are "a prestigious company in the field of providing agency services and organizing tourist trips and as such is recognized in the region because it provides agency services in the maritime sector, especially to megayachts and cruisers that call at the ports of Bar and Kotor."
They emphasize that they are a “reliable partner to the world's leading cruise companies” and that as far as Kotor is concerned, Allegra has a significant direct impact on the local economy by employing a large number of people and cooperating with hundreds of local suppliers and partners. They note that in the last two and a half years they have paid around 2,5 million euros to the Port of Kotor, while the total turnover with the Port of Kotor has exceeded 10 million, as follows from their financial documentation.
"The company is settling all its obligations towards the Port of Kotor, including the payment of default interest in cases of late payment of invoices, and all legal actions taken by the Port of Kotor in connection with any forced collection have been resolved amicably, because Allegra has fully settled its obligations and paid all interest. With such a volume of business in the field of providing port agency services, it is common practice for there to be tolerance in payment terms between the port and agents, but in this specific case, the Port of Kotor, as the holder of the concession for providing port services, denied tolerance for delayed payment in order to favor its agency Kotormar," the Bar-based company claims.
Port of Kotor to focus on improving its offer
Allegra believes that the management of the Port of Kotor is, in this way, "in order to take over its business", trying to discredit" that agency as its strategic partner, instead of focusing on improving the conditions and offers of the Port of Kotor itself.
"Such as the extension of the operational shore that the Port of Kotor management has been promising for years, the installation of additional buoys at anchorages, the procurement of necessary equipment (forklifts), and the provision of adequate protection from the sun and rain for passengers waiting to return to the ship in the port. Allegra Montenegro remains committed to legal and transparent business operations, and expects that such practices will finally stop in the interest of all those participating in the development of cruise tourism in Montenegro," concluded the company's executive director Mihailo Vukić.
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