The offer from the Turkish EOS Group for the purchase of the ships of Crnogorska plovidba from Kotor was not only financially, but also in many other aspects more favorable for Montenegro compared to the offer from the Danish shipping company Navisios Group, to which the ships were ultimately sold.
If the Turkish offer had been accepted, Montenegro would not have lost half of the merchant fleet under its flag in international navigation, and Kotor would not have been left without a shipping company, as is the case now after the ships "Kotor" and "Dvadesetprvi maj" were sold to the Danes for a total of 13,25 million dollars.
This is confirmed by the offer for a "block sale" (both vessels together) to purchase two ships, which was sent to the management of Crnogorska plovidba on August 3rd by the president of EOS Group from Istanbul, Ebri Senkaja, which "Vijesti" has access to.
In the offer made by EOS Group based on the advertisement for the sale of two Crnogorska plovidba ships published on July 17, the state-owned shipping company from Kotor was offered that EOS Group “or a related company nominated by it” would buy both ships for a total amount of 16 million dollars. The Turks offered to keep the ships under the Montenegrin flag, to invest additionally in the ship “Kotor”, to establish their own ship management company in Montenegro...
The management of Crnogorska plovidba, however, rejected their offer and accepted a financially much worse offer from the Danish Navisios group, which offered only $13,25 million for two 35.000-ton “handy size bulk carrieraqs”, built in China in 2012. This is far less than the objective market value of these ships, which, according to brokers, is currently at least $20 million.
This happened because, according to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the Government, the EOS Group allegedly "during the negotiations, began to change the conditions in its favor, which led to the abandonment of further talks and the collapse of the negotiations, with significant time being lost."
"After no agreement was reached with the Turkish bidder, talks were initiated with the second-ranked bidder - the Danish company K/S Navision Group - which accepted commercial terms, including an advance payment from which obligations towards the crew and other creditors would be settled," stated the information prepared by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, and accepted by the Government.
Offer details
In the EOS Group's offer, in addition to the almost three million dollar higher price for the two ships, the state of Montenegro, as the owner of Crnogorska plovidba, also received other significantly better conditions for it. Namely, the Turks explicitly stated that after taking them over, they intend to keep the ships under the Montenegrin flag, as well as to invest at least another million dollars in the ship "Kotor". Thus, the EOS Group was informed that the classification society "Bureau Veritas" allegedly believes that it should invest in an extraordinary overhaul and docking of the "Kotor" so that "Bureau Veritas" can extend its class (certificate of technical correctness for a period of five years).
The EPS group stated that this investment will also help improve the reputation of the Montenegrin flag in the international maritime community, given that the "Kotor" had previously had several delays in foreign ports due to protocol and technical deficiencies discovered on it.
Turci su naveli da kupuju brodove Crnogorske po “as is, where is” načelu (u viđenom stanju na mjestu gdje se nalaze), te da bi “Kotor” preuzeli nakon što on doplovi na sidrište turske luke Tuzla gdje bi u tamošnjem brodogradilištu on bio remontovan i produžena mu klasa, a “Dvadesetprvi maj” u terminu koji obostrano dogovore Crnogorska i EOS grupa po potpisivanju ugovora o kupoprodaji, budući da je taj brod još u “tajm čarteru” i plovi za svog unajmitelja. Zahtijevali su da sa brodovima u momentu primopredaje, preuzmu i svu opremu, inventar i zalihe rezervnih djelova koje se na njima tada budu zatekle, kao i da se čitav posao obavi zaključivanjem u pomorstvu standardizovanog ugovora o kupoprodaji brodova SHIPSALE 22.
The EOS Group particularly highlighted, as they stated, the socio-economic effects on the seller of accepting their offer.
"After purchasing and registering the ships, the buyer intends to make the following socio-economic contributions to Montenegro: to keep both ships under the Montenegrin flag (provided that this flag remains on the White List), to establish a ship management company in Montenegro (most likely named EOS Group Montenegro to keep the city of Kotor on the map of the global maritime economy), to employ local professionals on land and on ships, and to increase the number of ships under the management of EOS Group Montenegro and strengthen the presence of that company in the Montenegrin and regional maritime-related markets, which would result in further investments in capacities and additional employment of Montenegrin citizens," the EOS Group's offer states.
They note that as buyers of the ships, they "aim to preserve the rich maritime heritage and tradition of the city of Kotor, ensure employment for Montenegrin seafarers, as well as to provide sailing practice for the best students and pupils of the Maritime Faculty and secondary maritime schools in Montenegro."
They would pay 80 percent immediately for both ships.
EOS Group was prepared to immediately pay Crnogorska 80 percent of the amount of $16 million for both ships, and for the remaining 20 percent to be held in a special escrow account and released to Crnogorska six months from the date of signing the contract, as a special security for the settlement of any other debts of Crnogorska related to those ships, which were not known at the time of the transaction.
None of this, however, was accepted because the Montenegrin management and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs decided to sell the ships to the Danes for a lower price and without any additional benefits offered by the Turks in the form of keeping the Montenegrin flag, establishing a management company in Kotor, and employing local seafarers.
This process has since turned into a scandal, as EOS Group has firmly rejected the accusations leveled against it by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the Government. They have announced that they will sue the state and Crnogorska plovidba for damaging the reputation of EOS Group, namely the Government's claims that the Turks are to blame for the delay in the sale, that they reneged on their commitments and imposed conditions on the seller beyond the terms of the tender.
In its media response, EOS Group stated that communication with them regarding the sale of the "Crnogorska" ships was conducted by a "state secretary" at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, whom they did not name.
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs denied that their State Secretary Pavle Tripković led the sale of Crnogorska's ships, but they did not deny that he was interested in it since it was a company asset that is 100 percent state-owned. The Ministry of Maritime Affairs distanced itself from the way the sale was conducted and the decision on the selection of the buyer was made, emphasizing that all this was done exclusively by the management of Crnogorska, led by the chairman of the Board of Directors Peter Janković and the outgoing executive director Vladimir Tadic.
"Kotor" removed the Montenegrin flag, and soon "Twenty-first May" will too
The ship "Kotor", which was sold to the Danish Navisios Group for $5,75 million, has already removed its Montenegrin flag in the British port of Tyne because the new owner re-registered it under the flag of the Marshall Islands and gave it a new name "Atlantic North".
Something similar will soon happen with the other Montenegrin ship, "Dvadeset prvi maj", which is on a journey from Vietnam to Japan, where it is scheduled to sail into the port of Mizushima today, where it will also be taken over by a new owner.
EOG Group: Communication was handled by the Secretary of State, they told us that they could not register a mortgage due to vacations
EOS Group previously announced that "in the letter issued by the Secretary of State, it was expressly confirmed that EOS Group can be fully legally protected and that the release of the ship m/b 'Kotor' can be accelerated, provided that 40% of the agreed purchase price is paid in advance with the registration of a mortgage."
“However, when the process reached the stage of signing the contract, it became clear that the mortgage could not be registered for at least three weeks, due to the break in the work of the courts due to the holidays. Given the inability of Crnogorska plovidba AD to provide any other concrete guarantee for the purchase of the m/b 'Kotor', EOS Group consistently sought practical solutions and proposed that priority be given to the purchase of another ship, the m/b 'Dvadeset prvi maj', which is not subject to seizure. This approach would enable the settlement of debts related to the m/b 'Kotor', the removal of the ship's encumbrances and allow for a smooth completion of the entire process,” the Turkish company announced after its offer of $16 million was rejected and the Danish offer of $13,25 million was accepted.
They pointed out that "EOS Group then repeatedly called for negotiations to continue and firmly demonstrated its willingness to the owners to purchase both ships, but these proposals were completely ignored."
The Commercial Court told "Vijesti" that during August and September, Crnogorska plovidba did not submit any request to the court for registration of a mortgage on any of its ships, and that "work in the court during collective annual holidays is organized in such a way that at any time during the holiday, a judge on duty is assigned to deal with urgent cases."
The Montenegrin Sea Captains' Association from Kotor called on the Special State Prosecutor's Office to investigate this controversial transaction with the Danes for almost a third less money, emphasizing that "the information published by the Turkish buyer EOS Group, which, according to its own account, offered $16 million for both ships, and was then eliminated from the proceedings with the explanation that the mortgage could not be registered due to vacations, is particularly worrying."
"Such an explanation is frivolous, unprofessional and indicates a possible deliberate avoidance of a better offer in favor of a second-ranked buyer who paid significantly less. The above is irresistibly reminiscent of the affair of the sale of the old AD Barska plovidba building," UPK points out.
They requested that a control hearing be held before the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget of the Parliament of Montenegro regarding the closure of Crnogorska plovidba and the sale of its ships, which the chairman of that committee, Boris Mugoša (Social Democrats), considers justified, as well as that a parliamentary investigation be initiated regarding the actions of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the management of Crnogorska plovidba, and that the State Audit Institution review all financial and other documentation related to the sale of Crnogorska plovidba's ships as a company that is 100 percent state-owned.
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