Montenegro’s Minister of Maritime Affairs, Filip Radulović, has stated that all legal mechanisms have been exhausted and that there is no longer any way to assist the national shipping company, Crnogorska Plovidba.
He recalled that on June 20, the United States Coast Guard detained one of the company’s ships in the Port of Savannah due to a failure in the vessel’s safety management system, caused by malfunctions in both the main and auxiliary engines.
While acknowledging the dissatisfaction surrounding the government’s difficult decision to sell the company’s ships, Radulović emphasized that there was no legal solution remaining.
The minister revealed that the company owes the state approximately €37 million. Meanwhile, expenses related to the ship’s detainment in Savannah continue to accumulate, and the company lacks the funds to cover them.
“We can no longer sweep decades-old problems under the rug. They must be addressed, even when the solutions are painful,” Radulović concluded.
