Radulović: We are not considering shutting down "Crnogorska plovidba"

The Government of Montenegro, namely the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, is not currently considering shutting down "Crnogorska plovidba" - said the Minister of Maritime Affairs, Filip Radulović, during today's visit to "Barska plovidba" and the ferry "Mia" in Bar.

Responding to questions from "Vijesti", Radulović pointed out that the situation in that state-owned company is "very bad", and that the ship "Kotor" has been trapped in the American port of Savannah for almost 20 days, and that the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, which, as he stated, they prevented by signing a contract with "Barska plovidba".

Asked to comment on the allegations about the closure of "Crnogorska" from the ministry's "Plan for the Restructuring of Shipping Companies in Montenegro", which "Vijesti" wrote about this week, he said that there are several potential solutions in that document.

"The analysis was done by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants and included one solution to potentially close one of the companies, one solution to close both companies, and a third solution to close neither company. There are a myriad of potential solutions, now we need to see what is legally and financially possible for us to implement," he said.

They are not currently considering shutting down "Crnogorska plovidba", in his words, but "they have to sit down these days", as soon as they deliver the ship from the port of Savanna, and see what they will do next.

He emphasized that the analysis had several other solutions, "but someone only pulled out one solution and announced it to the public," which he considered tendentious because there were five solutions in the document.

"As soon as the Government, or rather the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, decides on one of these solutions, we will, of course, inform the public about it," he concluded.

This Monday, "Vijesti" published part of the content of the "Economic and financial analysis of Barska plovidba AD Bar and Crnogorska plovidba AD Kotor", or rather, the "Restructuring Plan of Shipping Companies of Montenegro".

The scenario, which implies the gradual collapse of the state-owned company, also envisages that two merchant ships with a carrying capacity of 35.000 tons each will be transferred to "Barska Plovidba", in which the state shares ownership with minority shareholders.

Commenting on this, Radulović said that the fact that 45 percent of "Barska plovidba" belongs to minority shareholders represents a potential problem in resolving this issue.

Therefore, he mentioned the possibility of the state buying out the minority shareholders.

"There is an obstacle, but I wouldn't say it's huge. We are aware that 'Crnogorska plovidba' is 100 percent state-owned. Whatever we decide in the end, all of that will be taken into consideration for some solutions," he concluded.