Ministry of Maritime Affairs: The state has no legal capacity to assist Crnogorska plovidat

The state no longer has the legal ability to assist Crnogorska plovidba, and therefore it has been proposed that the company sell its two ships and try to prevent their "arrest" in one of the world's ports, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs announced today.

"The ship 'Kotor' has been trapped in the port of Savana for more than 20 days and is not seaworthy due to a series of sudden equipment failures, malfunctions and errors by the crew and management. Enormous costs are accumulating every day, which already threaten to exceed the value of the ship in the short term, and Crnogorska plovidba does not have the money to settle current debts, which is why the lawyers of the company 'Moran' have initiated the procedure for 'arresting' the ship and are currently preventing it from sailing from the port of Savana," the ministry, headed by Filip Radulović (PES), said in a statement.

They added that the "arrest" would ultimately lead to the sale of the ship at auction and likely a sale for next to nothing for the amount of the total claims, which, they said, would result in a multi-million loss.

"The situation with the ship 'Kotor' negatively affects the status of the company's other ship, '21. maj', which is also in very poor condition. The decision to sell is painful, but the only reasonable option to sell the ship under market conditions, settle creditors and return the remaining money to the state budget," the Ministry of Maritime Affairs said.

The government department said that Crnogorska plovidba owes the state more than 37 million euros, and that any new form of financial assistance to the company would be contrary to the Law on State Aid Control.

"The current insolvency of Crnogorska plovidba makes it impossible to pay any obligation or any creditor," the statement reads.

Vijesti reported today that Radulović misled the public by claiming that the Government and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs are not currently considering shutting down Crnogorska plovidba (CP) because the "Restructuring Plan for Shipping Companies of Montenegro", which was prepared for the needs of this department by the company "Računovođa", shows that a scenario of shutting down this state-owned maritime company is at work.

In addition, the Government yesterday approved Radulović's request to sell both CP ships - "Kotor" and "Dvadesetprvi maj".