Ferry for which they offered 6 million is being turned into scrap metal

The ferry "AF Francesca" which almost sank two and a half years ago with the consent of the then Prime Minister's Government Dritan Abazović (URA), purchased by the majority state-owned maritime company "Barska plovidba" for almost six million euros, arrived yesterday at the anchorage of the Turkish port of Aliaga, where the ship will be cut into scrap metal over the coming months.

This confirmed the validity of everything that "Vijesti" announced at the end of June 2023, when the management of "Barska plovidba" made the decision to purchase this ferry, about the dilapidation and poor technical condition of this ship.

On June 27, 2023, the General Assembly of Shareholders of “Barska Plovidba”, at the proposal of the Board of Directors of that company, adopted a Decision on the purchase of the ship “AF Franceska” despite the fact that it was not accompanied by an assessment of the value of the then 44-year-old ferry with a number of technical deficiencies, which had also experienced several serious accidents during its active career. The consent of the General Assembly of Shareholders of “Barska” to make a decision on the purchase was previously given by Vlado Abazović, because the state is the majority owner with 52 percent.

“AF Francesca” is a so-called “ropax night ferry”, 138 meters long, 25,4 meters wide and with a draft of 5,7 meters. This ship of 19.811 gross tons has a capacity of 2.000 passengers and 610 cars. The ship has nine decks, garages with a total of 1.040 meters of longitudinal lanes for vehicles, 296 passenger cabins in two classes with a total of 859 beds, a reception, two restaurants, two coffee bars, a shop, a cinema, a special area for pets… With a maximum speed of 19 knots, the ferry is powered by two Fiat-GMT diesel engines with a total power of 19.200 horsepower.

This ferry was built in 1979 at the “Italcantieri” shipyard in the town of Castelmare di Stabia near Naples, under the name “Domiziana” as the first in a class of six identical “Strade Consolari Romane” type ferries for the Italian state-owned shipping company “Tirrenia di Navigazione” from Genoa. After almost three decades of sailing in Italy and France on various routes in the Tyrrhenian Sea, “AF Francesca” was transferred to less demanding routes between Italy and Albania, and the ship suffered two major accidents during its career, a collision with a breakwater in Ancona in 2012, and a fire in the engine room in 2015. In addition, the "AF Francesca" had a number of serious technical shortcomings: from problematic main and auxiliary engines that often break down due to poor maintenance and the use of used spare parts, to a problematic old engine cooling system and auxiliary systems... In addition, a poor air conditioning, ventilation and heating system for the passenger compartment, the absence of an evaporator and thus the ability for the ship to make distilled water for its own needs, problems with roll stabilizers that occurred after the installation of sponsons in 2015, poor pipelines and tanks, problems with the hydraulic system for turning the propeller blades during maneuvers, a deficient automation and monitoring system in the engine room, which is why the ship needs a minimum of 17 well-trained machinists on the crew...

After "Vijesti" published this, citing the testimony of an experienced marine engineer who had sailed on this ship for years, "Barska Plovidba" announced that the ship had been inspected by two experienced long-distance captains from the company's Board of Directors, as well as its technical director, and they allegedly determined that the "AF Francesca" was in good enough condition to sail on a regular line from Bar to Bari, or Ancona, for at least the next ten years.

According to unofficial information, the company had already reached a preliminary agreement to pay the Italian shipping company "Adria Ferries" from Ancona, "AF Francesco" at a price of between five and six million euros, and to take over the ship in the fall of 2023. However, after the publication in the media of true information about the poor condition of the ferry and its other technical characteristics that make it completely inadequate for economical use on the lines between Montenegro and Italy on which "Barska plovidba" wanted to employ it, a lot of dust was raised in the Montenegrin public, primarily in Bar.

This went to the extent that the then relevant Ministry of Capital Investments (MKI), led by the Minister Ervin Ibrahimovic (BS) distanced itself from the decision of the Board of Directors and the General Meeting of Shareholders of "Barska" to purchase "AF Francesca".

"The Board of Directors of "Barska Plovidba" did not seek the opinion of MKI in the procedure preceding the decision to purchase the ship "AF Francesca", nor did this ministry participate in any way in the process of selecting the ship whose purchase was proposed by the Board of Directors to the Shareholders' Assembly. This ministry was informed about the purchase of the ship at the same time as the rest of the public, that is, when the electronic media broadcast the press release of the Board of Directors of "Barska Plovidba", which referred to the decision to purchase the ship "AF Francesca", said MKI at the end of July 2023, adding that the Government, as a collective body, decided that its representative, as the majority owner, would vote for the purchase of the ferry at the company's Shareholders' Assembly.

MKI claimed at the time that, as the relevant ministry, they "responsibly approached this issue."

"After learning that the Board of Directors proposed a decision to purchase the ship "AF Francesca", we sent the Board of Directors a request for certain relevant information. In response to MKI's inquiry, the Board of Directors stated, among other things, that the ferry "AF Francesca" has a renewed class until 2028 and that it is in "very good condition" even though it is 43 years old, which, as stated, guarantees its exploitation and maintenance of the line for at least ten years with the necessary investments in terms of extending the class during 2028. The management of the Bar-based company also stated that the estimated value of the ship in "scrap" at this moment is around three million euros, which guarantees the return of half of the value invested in its purchase after the expiration of its exploitation period," MKI announced.

The cancellation was justified by "uncertain charter contracts"

The purchase of the ship failed after media and public pressure, because the Board of Directors of “Barska Plovidba” at the end of July 2023 gave up on this transaction that had already been agreed in principle with the Italians. They announced that they had informed MKI that “all activities related to the implementation of the Decision on the approval of the purchase of the ship “AF Francesca”, adopted at the Shareholders’ Meeting on 27 June 2023, will be suspended”. They cited the uncertainty as to the commercial terms under which new time charter contracts for the cargo ships “Bar” and “Budva” owned by “Barska Plovidba” would be concluded in the meantime, because allocating several million euros for the purchase of the ferry at that moment could have a disastrous effect on the company’s operations.

However, even then, they did not give up on their attempts to discredit the writings of "Vijesti" about the catastrophically poor condition of the dilapidated Italian ferry they had set their sights on.

"In the part of the text that refers to the description of the technical characteristics of the ship "AF Francesca", we would just like to remind the esteemed Mr. Luković that the Board of Directors, in addition to the President of the Board Miloš Raičević, also appointed as members of the board are Captain Ivica Pavlović and Captain Mehdi Karamanaga from Ulcinj, and that all three have over a hundred years of navigation and maritime experience, which means that these are not laymen in the maritime field, and especially not people who would take the risk of proposing and purchasing a ferry ship without being sure of a good and, at this moment, the best choice for our company", the management of "Barska" said at the time.

How good they were in their assessment of the "AF Francesca" is shown by the fact that the ship ended its career as secondary raw material in a cutting yard in Turkey.