The Board of Directors of Crnogorska plovidba will be replaced on Monday due to the condition of the ship "Kotor", which has remained stuck in the port of Savannah in the United States due to several malfunctions. The Ministry of Maritime Affairs will file criminal charges against unidentified persons for abuse of official position and negligent work in service for an extended period.
This was announced by Maritime Affairs Minister Filip Radulović at a press conference after the Government session.
The ship "Kotor" along with the "21. Maj" belongs to Crnogorska plovidba, but due to the poor state of that company, it was recently leased to Barska plovidba through a technical cooperation agreement. The goal was to save Crnogorska from bankruptcy, while Barska would pay them a million euros in advance so that they could operate and take over the lease of their two ships.
Barska's CEO Boris Mihailović stressed that repairing the ship "Kotor", which was stranded in the state of Georgia a week ago due to irregularities, will cost several hundred thousand euros.
Radulović stressed that the ship "Kotor" underwent a 1,4 million euro overhaul in 2022, which was supposed to be paid for over the next five years. Then, as he claims, in 2023 the ship was classified as category "D" - below standard.
"Someone must be held accountable for this state of affairs on the ships. It is strange and obvious that we did not receive a 1,4 million euro worth of repairs, I find that very strange and worrying, and as responsible people, we are obliged to file criminal charges against unidentified persons for abuse of official position and negligent work in the service for an extended period. These problems have been going on for years and have somehow accelerated in the last ten to 20 days, which is symptomatic because it happened after the Barska and Crnogorska contract was signed. That is why the Board of Directors (of Crnogorska) will be replaced on Monday. The final analysis will be done by an independent agency from Dubai, for "Kotor" in the coming days, and for "21. maj" in mid-July," he said, adding that the inspection is tomorrow, after which the ship could potentially set sail again.
Radulović claims that an analysis of the condition of the ships was not done until the two companies entered into the arrangement. He also emphasized that the contract could be terminated if it was unfavorable for Barsko.
Mihailović added that so far, based on that contract, they have paid 300.000 euros to Crnogorska, but that no one knew how bad the condition of the ship was.
"It will cost a lot, the costs are high in the United States, the figure is already several hundred thousand. After that it will go to England. I will not point fingers, someone has to be responsible and tell the owner that the ships are class "D". The ministry only found out after the analysis of Barska," said Mihailović.
He explained that they had previously sent the technical director of Barska with a team to conduct an inspection on "May 21st", but that the board of Crnogorska objected to their being on board. He also claims that the repairs of two Crnogorska ships were paid 70 percent more than those for the Barska Plovidba fleet.
"The situation on board is alarming. These ships had their repairs paid for 70 percent more than Barska, which paid $800.000 and received a "C" rating. Considering the amount of money, a "D" rating is unacceptable. These ships have been devalued for a long time, their book value is 30 million and their real value is 15 million euros - that value of 15 million is being lost somewhere... It is symptomatic that since the announcement of the analysis, Barska has no problems and Crnogorska has obstructions," he stressed.
Mihailović also claims that up to 30 percent of the crew on these ships are Georgians, and that he does not know whether this is legally permitted, given that Montenegro has not signed the necessary bilateral agreements with Georgia.
He pointed out that of the planned one million euros, 400.000 euros will go to Crnogorska for salaries and 600.000 for repairs, but that due to these malfunctions, that amount will probably only go to one repair.
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