The ship "Kotor" of the company Crnogorska plovidba AD from Kotor, sailed today from the anchorage of the American port of Savannah in Georgia on its journey across the Atlantic to the British port of Tyne.
The "Kotor", which is loaded with cargo to be delivered to that British port, is expected in Tajna on July 30th.
In this way, at least temporarily, the saga surrounding the uncertain fate of the ship has been put to rest, which was forcibly stopped on June 15th in the port of Savannah due to several procedural and minor technical deficiencies discovered on it during a PSC inspection by the US Coast Guard.
Meanwhile, during the subsequent inspection by Bureau Veritas class inspectors, the ship suffered a failure of the main electronic switchboard on the main propulsion engine, which left it without power, so the Coast Guard ordered a local towing company to have its tugs assist the "Kotor" by pushing it along the operational shore of the port to which it was otherwise tied until the failure was fixed.
Due to this and other costs incurred in connection with the unplanned detention of the ship until the deficiencies recorded on it by the US Coast Guard were corrected, the "Kotor" has unplannedly incurred costs of around $950.000 in the past month in the US for its owner - Crnogorska plovidba.
American creditors - the Moran Tug Service company, whose tugboats assisted "Kotor", and the Colonial company, at whose cargo terminal the ship was detained, agreed not to initiate the process of judicial seizure and forced sale of the 35.000-ton bulk carrier of Crnogorska plovidba in order to settle their claims, but instead mortgaged the ship in the amount of these claims, with the obligation of Crnogorska plovidba to settle these debts in the agreed amount.
In the meantime, the US Coast Guard, although Maritime Minister Filip Radulović and Barska Plovidba CEO Boris Mihailović claimed that the "Kotor" was allegedly in a "catastrophic technical condition" and unseaworthy, concluded that the defects on it were discovered on June 15, were eliminated, and that the ship was in good condition and seaworthy, and was first allowed to sail from the port of Savannah to an anchorage a few miles off the coast in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, and then to set sail on a commercial voyage across the ocean to Great Britain.
"After all the deficiencies noted by the US Coast Guard and inspections by Bureau Veritas class inspectors have been eliminated, the ship 'Kotor' has been given the green light to leave US territorial waters and is now sailing towards the UK where it is to unload the tanker it is transporting on behalf of its current charterer, the company 'Trithorn Bulk'," said Vladimir Tadić, executive director of Crnogorska plovidba, to "Vijesti".
Symptomatically, the elimination of all deficiencies and defects on the "Kotor" coincided with the formal end of the rapidly implemented initiative launched by the Minister of Maritime Affairs Filip Radulović, and the Government accepted that the Shareholders' Assembly of Crnogorska plovidba, in which the state owns 100 percent of the capital, should make a decision on the urgent sale of both of the company's ships, which the Minister claims are in "catastrophic" and "poor" technical condition.
State Secretary at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs Jovan Šćekić, as such, represented state capital, at the extraordinary session of the Shareholders' Assembly of Montenegro on July 16, and voted on the decision to sell the ships "Kotor" and "Dvadesetprvi maj".
However, all of the "Kotor"'s problems have not been completely resolved, as 13 members of its crew wrote to the executive director of Crnogorska plovidba on Wednesday requesting that they be immediately disembarked from the ship and that all outstanding wages and two regular salaries be paid to them.
"Vijesti" has access to a letter sent by 13 seafarers from "Kotor" to the director of Crnogorska plovidba, in which they, referring to the Sectoral Collective Agreement for Maritime Affairs, announce that they are unilaterally "terminating their employment contract without additional notice period", demanding payment of all outstanding and unpaid wages and salaries under the contracts currently in force regarding their work engagement at Crnogorska plovidba, as well as compensation in the amount of two basic salaries in addition to that, as well as to be disembarked and repatriated to Montenegro as soon as possible at the expense of their previous employer.
This letter, among others, was signed by the commander of the "Kotor", long-distance captain Dejan Popović and the chief engineer on that ship, Nikola Dabović, as well as all three deck officers, or the third engineer officer.
Interestingly, two deck cadets and one assistant engineer are also seeking termination of the contract and disembarkation from the ship - young sailors embarked on the "Kotor" to complete the necessary maritime practice before taking the exam to become an officer, although their actions may have an extremely negative impact on their future careers and the willingness of any other shipping company to board their ships cadets/assistants who acted in this way during their mandatory practice.
"It is true that 13 members of the crew of the 'Kotor' requested to terminate the contract and disembark from the ship, but it is also true that even if they wanted to, they could not disembark in the USA because the American authorities did not allow it. Therefore, they remained on the ship and performed their duties until the 'Kotor' arrived in Great Britain, where they will most likely be disembarked and sent home," said Tadić, adding that this is "obviously a product of all this bad atmosphere that has been created in the Montenegrin public regarding the ship and the company" in the last month, which, along with the problem with the liquidity of Crnogorska plovidba, has a very discouraging effect on people who sail on its two ships.
According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", Barska plovidba, with the green light from the top of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, will soon announce that it is unilaterally terminating the controversial agreement on business and technical cooperation that it signed with Montenegrin, at the insistence of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, at the end of May.
Although the professional community warned that this was an illegal, unprecedented in the practice of the global maritime industry and potentially damaging contract for both companies, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the CEO of Barska Plovidba, Boris Mihailović, presented this arrangement to the public as "saving Montenegrin Shipping".
However, it turned out that it was actually a realization of a scenario called "Programmed Shutdown of Crnogrska plovidba AD" from the "Plan for Restructuring Shipping Companies in Montenegro", which was prepared at the end of March for the needs of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs by the anonymous company "Računovođa" DOO from Podgorica.
The Ministry has been hiding this Plan from the public until now, but "Vijesti" obtained it and announced that instead of the officially announced "rescue", it is actually implementing a programmed shutdown of Crnogorska plovidba.
Barska has not fulfilled its part of the obligations under that contract, because out of the total of one million euros agreed to improve its liquidity and overcome business problems, it has so far paid only 300.000 euros to the Kotor-based company. Article 2 of the contract, which Minister Radulović insisted on, states that Barska "obliges to provide Crnogorska plovidat with funds in the amount of up to 2025 euros for liquidity support in 1.000.000, on the basis of future rents (two Crnogorska ships entrusted to Barska for management - ed.).
"This amount will be paid in advance, in tranches, and in accordance with CP's due obligations to creditors... BP is obliged to act with the care of a good businessman and to operate the ships in a sustainable manner while simultaneously optimizing costs," it says, citing Barska's contracted obligations.
However, just a few days after Barska formally took over the management of the Montenegrin ships, the "Kotor" was stopped in the USA due to a key deficiency - the crew's ignorance of who the so-called DPA person in the company managing the ship was, and in order for the ship to implement the Safety Management System in practice according to the international Convention on Safety Management Systems ISM.
In addition, Barska did not transfer the remaining 700.000 euros agreed upon to Crnogorska, even though that money would mean a lot to the people of Kotor to rescue the "Kotor" from Savannah more quickly and with less costs incurred while the ship is stationary.
The day after "Vijesti" published the Plan according to which the Ministry of Maritime Affairs is not saving but rather shutting down the Montenegrin Shipping Company, Minister Radulović announced that the Government allegedly no longer has any legal possibility to help Montenegrin Shipping Company, which is why, according to him, both of its ships, which the Minister publicly stated were in "catastrophic" and "poor" technical condition, should be urgently sold, even though the PSC inspection of the "Twenty-first May" in South Korea passed without a single remark or defect discovered on it, and the US Coast Guard has in the meantime also given the "Kotor" the green light to continue sailing.
Bonus video:
