The management of Crnogorska plovidba (CP) from Kotor is outraged by the actions of the management of Barska plovidba (BP) regarding the incident with the ship "Kotor" CP, which was temporarily stopped in the American port of Savannah by the American Coast Guard in recent days, due to minor technical defects discovered on it during the so-called "in depth" inspection by Coast Guard inspectors.
A source from the company for "Vijesti" denies that the condition of the "Kotor" is catastrophic, but says that an inspection at the end of May showed that the ship was in good condition, and that during an unusual request by the inspector, there was a malfunction in the electronic board, which has already been replaced, and that the Coast Guard in Savanna approved the loading of cargo. He also points out that the negative story about the "Kotor" from the Bar company started after the crew contacted the International Seafarers' Union about delayed wages.
The management of the Kotor-based company is also very dissatisfied with the actions of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, at whose initiative two months ago CP was forced to enter into a controversial arrangement with Barska, which deprived CP of business autonomy in managing ships, imposed on it disproportionately high commissions that “Barska” should pay for “advice” and the obligation to employ its ships on the market as instructed by “Barska”. In the meantime, the management of “Barska” has placed a series of information in some Montenegrin media about the allegedly catastrophic technical condition and neglect of the CP ships “Kotor” and “Dvadesetprvi maj” and the allegedly irresponsible attitude of the management that led to this.
Maritime Affairs Minister Filip Radulović announced at a press conference on Thursday that he would dismiss the current Board of Directors of CP on Monday "due to a series of irregularities over a long period of time, as well as the filing of criminal charges against unidentified persons due to defects on the ship Kotor, which was captured in the USA."
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The US Coast Guard performs the role of the so-called Port State Control inspectorate and is very rigorous in controlling foreign merchant ships in US ports from the aspect of their technical correctness, seaworthiness and compliance with safety and environmental standards. The ship CP “Kotor” arrived in Savannah on June 14 to load cargo for its new charterer - the company “Trithorn Bulk” for which it sails at a daily rent of $ 8.450, in an arrangement concluded by “Barska”. In recent days, the management of that company has placed a series of information in some media about the alleged “catastrophic condition” of the “Kotor”, that the ship has repeatedly been left without electricity and water supply, that it has problems with the hydraulics and a failure of the main engine.
The campaign started after addressing the ITF?
A Georgian seaman-helmsman from the “Kotor” in the USA called the International Transport Workers’ Union (ITF) and complained about the crew not being paid on time, and the director of “Barska” Boris Mihailović then told the media that “the ship “Kotor” (by being detained by the Coast Guard in the USA - ed.) “paid” the guild for not being regularly maintained, nor was it invested in in recent years.”
"This is a wider range of problems on the ship 'Kotor', and I do not rule out the suspicion that the crew on board is incompetent, which is why costs and financial losses are piling up," said Mihailović.
According to reports in some Montenegrin media, the “Kotor” was detained by the US Coast Guard in the port of Savannah on June 14 - the same day it arrived there from the also American port of Jacksonville. It is interesting that the ship, if it is in such a bad condition as claimed by the management of “Barska” and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, was not previously detained in Jacksonville because the US Coast Guard also operates there as a PSC control. Additionally, the “Kotor” was in American ports in October and December last year when it was also controlled by the Coast Guard, whose reports at that time were without any objections or detention of the ship because there were no problems with the “Kotor” engine complex at that time that have manifested themselves now.
The Ministry gave late approval for the loan extension
"The whole problem arose when, at the request of Prva Banka, CP's account was blocked recently, due to the non-renewal of the multi-year overdraft loan we have with that bank. The reason for the non-renewal of that contract is that the Ministry of Maritime Affairs did not respond at all to CP's management requests to obtain consent from them, as representatives of the state that owns the company, to extend the loan, which is a legal obligation for companies that are, like CP, state-owned. When things got seriously complicated because of that and when CP found itself in a situation where it could not service the salaries of its seafarers and employees, this caused problems with the ITF, as well as the inability to adequately carry out ongoing maintenance of ships and supply spare parts, oil and lubricants. Only then, after its silence had put us in that situation, did the Ministry of Maritime Affairs 'remember' that after three months of blocking our account, it would proceed with the so-called 'rescue' of CP by transferring our ships to 'Barska' through an illegal and in maritime practice unknown contract for "business-technical cooperation that the Ministry insisted on," said a source from the top of CP to "Vijesti", reminding that analyses conducted for the Ministry's needs showed that CP has achieved better business results than BP in the last four years, and that CP in January completed the repayment of its ships to the Chinese bank that financed their construction, while BP is due to repay its two ships by 2034.
"When you look at all of this, the goal of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs was clearly not to 'save' CP, but to find a way to help BP to more easily repay the remaining loan for the purchase of its ships to the Chinese Exim Bank, and for the state of Montenegro, which is not the sole owner of the company, to have as little participation as possible as a guarantor of the loan repayment. By looking for a way to improve BP's financial situation and create conditions for a more certain repayment of its loan to the Chinese, the idea was to transfer the CP ships, through a business and technical cooperation agreement, to 'Barska' and for CP to give it 9 percent of all its revenues. A formal reason had to be found to realize this goal, and that was the overdraft loan from Prva Banka to CP. This loan has been extended every year so far without any problems with the approval of the relevant ministry, while this year the approval from Minister Filip Radulović arrived only after three months, which caused a multi-month blockade of our company's accounts, which created serious problems for CP, which are now being felt strongly," said a source in "Vijesti".
Ship "very solid" in December
Denying the claims of Radulović and Mihailović about the allegedly catastrophic condition of the CP ships and the lack of care towards them, the source also forwarded to "Vijesti" reports on the survey of the ship "Kotor" conducted by the "Rightship" agency in December last year, which assessed the ship's technical condition as "very solid", with a rating of 3. At the end of May - precisely during the period for which the Ministry and BP claim that the CP ships were "on the verge of collapse", the "Kotor", when it had already been handed over on time charter to a new charterer who was brought in through "Barska" - the company Trithorn Bulk, was also inspected by the "Inchcape Marine Survey & Inspection" agency.
She did this to assess the condition of the ship before it was hired by the sub-charter, the company “Pioneer Navigation”. This agency inspected the hull, deck, masts and their covers and determined that all of these on the “Kotor” were in good or satisfactory condition and that the ship was generally well maintained, as demonstrated by her narrative report accompanied by numerous photographs from every part of the ship inspected. Surveyor “Inchapea” also determined that all electrical, hydraulic, fuel and lubricant installations, as well as fire extinguishing system installations, were well maintained, correct and functional and that there were no leaks. The surveyor’s final conclusion was that the “Kotor” was in good condition and met all the prerequisites for normal commercial operations and the transport of bulk cargo. This inspection was carried out on May 31st in the Colombian port of Barranquilla, and only 14 days later, according to the management of "Barska", the "Kotor" was "in a catastrophic state", which is why it was stopped in the port of Savannah by the American "Coast Guard".
The Coast Guard's findings did not detain the ship.
"Vijesti", however, learned that during the "in-depth" inspection of the "Kotor", the US Coast Guard found only a few relatively minor deficiencies that can be easily and quickly eliminated, and which are often found in practice with many other merchant ships, and that this was not the decisive reason for the ship's detention in that port.
“The reason for the detention and issuance of the order by the 'Coast Guard' was a malfunction that had occurred in the meantime - the destruction of the main electronic control panel in the ship's engine complex, which was caused by an extremely unusual procedure ordered by an inspector from the classification society 'Bureau Veritas'. Namely, although the class inspector was on board the ship and concluded that everything was in order before the 'Coast Guard' inspection, after it a completely different inspector from 'Bureau Veritas' (BV) appeared on the ship again and asked the chief engineer not to simulate a total "black out" (all engines out of service and the ship left without electricity) as is usually done during these inspections, but to actually cause a real "black out". The first time it went well, however, the BV inspector ordered it to be done immediately a second time, after which the shock that such a procedure puts on all installations and systems on the ship caused an accident - the main electronic control panel of the main engine burned out. The ship was due to this malfunction because waiting for the delivery of a replacement part, he could not sail from Savana, and not because of some alleged "major technical defects" that were allegedly discovered by the Coast Guard inspection," said the interlocutor of "Vijesti". As confirmation, he cites the fact that the "Coast Guard" in the meantime allowed the "Kotor" to enter the port and carry out cargo loading operations, which the ship did with the use of a tugboat.
"The approval to load the cargo would certainly not have been granted if the 'Kotor' was in such a 'catastrophic condition' as 'Barska' and the Minister of Maritime Affairs claim without any argument," is the categorical interlocutor of "Vijesti", who emphasizes that the crew of the "Kotor" has electricity, hydraulics, air conditioning, compressed air and everything they need for normal life on board, and that the ship was left without power supply only at the moments when a "black out" was intentionally caused at the request of the BV inspector. In the meantime, a new electronic control panel has arrived on the ship and has been installed, and now we are waiting for the BV register inspector to officially verify and approve it.
And someone from the Ministry would answer that there is a disaster in CP
"All that happened - first the call to the ITF, then the Coast Guard inspection that found minor deficiencies that were immediately removed, and then the extremely unusual action of the class inspector that led to a breakdown on the control panel, unfortunately, unplannedly kept the ship in port and caused the company a lot of unnecessary high costs. However, the story that the Kotor is a ship in catastrophic condition is absolutely false and was deliberately placed to justify all the moves of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs in the past few months. Because of what they did to the CP, someone from Minister Radulović's department would have to be held accountable before the law," emphasizes the interlocutor of "Vijesti".
He points out that, if the claims about the allegedly catastrophic condition of the "Kotor" and "Dvadesetprvi Maja" were true, someone from the Technical Inspectorate of the Maritime Safety and Port Management Authority of Montenegro, in whose register these ships are registered and which carries out the so-called Flag State Control over them, would also have to be held accountable. Which means that an inspector from UPSUL visits and inspects them at least once a year.
"This indirectly means that someone from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs is responsible because UPSUL, with its Technical Inspectorate, is an organ over which the Ministry of Maritime Affairs exercises administrative supervision," the interlocutor of "Vijesti" underlined.
"Barska" controller took 18 thousand euros in eight hours
The interlocutor of "Vijesti" claims that after signing the controversial agreement on business and technical cooperation between CP and BP, "Barska", taking over all authority over CP's ships, sent its inspector to check their technical condition.
"They hired a person who has neither adequate experience nor knowledge, but they billed CP for his services in the amount of 36.000 euros. The hired person has so far only inspected one of our ships, and that in a period of only eight hours, which is an impossibly short interval to properly conduct a complete analysis of the ship's condition, which under normal circumstances would take at least 10 days. However, for that eight-hour job, that gentleman charged as much as 18.000 euros," emphasizes the source of "Vijesti".
He also forwarded to "Vijesti" a letter that the CP Board of Directors sent to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs on June 6, requesting that it, as the proposer of the contract on business and technical cooperation between CP and BP, "explain on the basis of which regulation the CP Board of Directors was exempted from the procedure of making important decisions and taking actions in the company's daily operations."
The Ministry never responded to that request, although the CP Board of Directors informed them that after the start of the implementation of the controversial contract with "Barska", "several decisions were made and a series of actions were taken within the competence of the Board of Directors, in which way the Board of Directors' powers as the management body of the Company were de facto taken away, which belong to us under the Law on Business Companies and the Statute of AD Crnogorska plovidba".
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