Between 2003 and 2013 Montenegro Lines (Barska Plovidba) ran a pair of car ferries: the Sveti Stefan (ex-Cornouailles) and Sveti Stefan II (ex-Prinz Hamlet). The first of these had helped to properly re-establish the country's international ferry services after the years of war and, for a while, things seemed pretty settled with operations from the port of Bar to both Bari and Ancona in Italy.
Then the Sveti Stefan was retired in 2013 without replacement, followed by the Sveti Stefan II in 2016. Since then the company has relied on Jadrolinija, the state ferry company from Croatia to the north, making Bari to Bar sailings once or twice a week in the peak of summer on their behalf using the Dubrovnik (ex-Duchesse Anne). But now the Dubrovnik herself is being retired.
Sveti Stefan and Sveti Stefan II
The policies of the current Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazović, are pro-European and anti-corruption (solving the problem of the latter will begin to open doors on the country's currently stalled EU accession process). Abazović also repeatedly makes commitments to revive the country's ferry links. Here for example is a report from a couple of weeks ago; although Barska plovidba exited the ferry-owning business it still has a pair of bulk carriers referenced below.
Abazović: We want to develop the maritime economy
In 2022, Barska plovidba achieved a profit of 13 million euros in revenue, which is an increase of 156 percent compared to the previous year. Almost the entire income is generated on the foreign market, said Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, who is on a working visit to Bar.
He said that there are many problems and that the government wants to develop the maritime economy "in a much better way than was the case before".
During his stay at "Barska plovidba", he said that it is rare for a company to survive with two ships and that the goal is to increase the fleet.
"The emphasis is on establishing the Bar - Bari line, not only during the summer season, but to make it compatible with the national interest - and that is to develop Montenegro 365, that is, to work all 365 days a year," said Abazović.
He said that the government wants to increase state capital and "create a company that is healthy".
"There is no city like Bar that has this kind of infrastructure and resources. The ambition is to complete the port of Bar. This will be a great support for Barska Plovidba, maritime traffic and business through the port," said Abazović.
The President of Bar Municipality, Dušan Raičević, said that he was pleased with the positive financial indicators of the operations of the port of Bar and Barska plovidba.
"I am pleased by the fact that the Government is taking steps to unify the national resources of the port and to put into operation the capacities of the port of Bar. Bar navigation is a special emotion for all of us from Bar and we are particularly interested in it. We have expressed our readiness to solve the issue of ship procurement and that we are talking about putting into operation the hitherto non-functioning property that Barska plovidba has at its disposal," Raičević said
This new report states how they could "create the preconditions" to pay for it; pertinent section highlighted below.
The optimal ship, both in terms of budget, availability and size, is still likely to be the Dubrovnik herself.
Barska plovidba plans to make 32 luxury apartments out of the old administrative building and to earn money for the purchase of a new ferry
07.02.23
"'Barska plovidba' ended the 2022 business year with an EBITDA (operating result before deducting interest, profit tax and depreciation) in the amount of 7.9 million euros, which is an increase of almost 10 times compared to the same the comparative period of 2021 and the realized profit from operations in the amount of 6.3 million euros. The company's account currently has over one million euros of liquid funds," the company's management announced.
"Aware of the fact that the result achieved in the previous year is largely the result of record high freight rates on the market, we are taking further steps in order to optimize and diversify our business with the aim of achieving a positive business result and thereby increase the capital of Barska plovidba to the satisfaction of all its shareholders.
With the aim of diversifying our business, we started the realization of an investment project - the construction of 32 residential units for the market, which we will get through the reconstruction and repurposing of the old administration building of Barska plovidba. With the implementation of this project, the company expects to generate around four million euros in new revenue, during 2023 and 2024, which will create the preconditions for the purchase of the ferry and the renewal of the Bar-Bari line", the company stated.
Also here to start a good ferry-service to/from Bar is not a big problem. If the state want to help - just a 1 cent port-fee per departure would help a lot already. Than just to remember, Montenegro is an extrem cheap country, for around only 500,- per month you will find a lot of simply crew-members (waiters, cleaning, decks-help etc.). The taxes for companies are also low. The food and drinks for the cafeteria onboard can be bought very cheap in Montenegro - and offered onboard for Italian prices. There is no state-own ferry-company needed - i am sure if these good conditions are offered to all ferry-companies in Europe - there will be 3, 4, 5 who will be interested to operate such a route, f.ex. FRS-group is always looking for new monopoly-routes all over in Europe and they have also some (used) slowly ferries in use - not only Catamarans.
1) Buy a cheap (a few millions) used smaller/mid-size day-ferry with a possible service-speed of 18 knots (= 6:30 travel-time)
2) Only 1 (shortest) route daily, dep. Bar 8:30 - arr. Bari 15:00 - dep. Bari 15:30 - arr. Bar 22:00 (crew can sleep at home in Bar !)
3) With cheap ticket-prices and a good cheap restaurant onboard such a ferry-route will be popular and working well.
- Everything is much cheaper than in Croatia, Italy and Greece, Montenegro is still a "secret-tipp" for cheap warm sunny holidays.
- The route is full duty-free possible and in both countries is the Euro officially currency = best conditions, nothing complicated with different currencies.
- Monopoly route
So there are a lot of attractive points to start a new route Bari-Bar to Montenegro.
You most probably know but I just wanted to remind that Montenegro Lines/Prekookeanska Plovidba used to sail with two ships already since 1996. Okay, one was a roro cargo and I was never able to see the original, 1958 built SVETI STEFAN myself, so I don't know if they used both ships at the same time but at least they had two ships in posession since. The first time I could squeeze the actual two ship Montenegro Lines-fleet on one picture was in July 2002 in Bari.
Montenegro Lines' ALBA and SVETI STEFAN in July 2002 in Bari
The Alba is one of the series of four freighters built in 1969/1970 for J.A. Reinecke, one of which became the first Contentin and one of which is still going in Greece as the Kapetan Christos.
Both she and the Sveti Stefan had periods on charter to Sealink, albeit different parts (Alba as Neckartal was with BR, Sveti Stefan as Cornouailles was with SNCF at Dieppe).
Here's the Alba at Bar in 2003. She was eventually scrapped in 2012.
Montenegro Lines' Alba ex-Neckartal in Bar, July 2003
A recent update on the search for a new ship. I think we can deduce that the two ships reported as being inspected are the Dubrovnik and, probably, the Moby Corse.
Barska Plovidba: Intensified search for a new ferry
The expert teams of AD Barska plovidba intensified the search for a suitable ship that should be bought or leased to maintain the Bar-Bari-Bar ferry line - it was confirmed to the Feral.bar portal from circles close to the management of the majority state-owned Bar shipping company.
Under the condition of anonymity, sources advised that in the past twenty days, two ferries were inspected - one in Italy and the other in Croatia.
These activities are directly related to the recent announcement by the Acting Prime Minister, Dritan Abazović, who said during the launch of the "Trideseti Avgust" ferry that "work will be done on the purchase of a ship that should run Bar-Bari, Bar-Ancona" .
Feral.bar sources point out that the inspections include "ships that are half a century old, at a price of four to five million euros, which the whole of Europe is getting rid of".
A much more serious offer on the second-hand boat market, which would meet both our market requirements and current maritime and environmental standards, costs at least ten million euros - Feral.bar points out.
It appears that Star Lines, owners of the Ionian Star (ex-Bohus) and European Star (ex-St Christopher etc) will be contracted to run the Bari-Bar service this year on behalf of Barska Plovidba.
The Montenegrin media has now caught up with this story. Tnitsea Shipping = Star Lines.
[Translated via Google] On the line Bar - Bari, probably a passenger ship of the Tnitsea Shipping company
18 April 2023
The ferry terminal in Bar, Montenegro, owned and run by the former ferry operator Barska Plovidba
A passenger ship from the Tnitsea Shipping company will probably operate on the maritime line Bar-Bari-Bar during the summer, Primorski portal learns.
Negotiations with the Italians are ongoing and it is certain that the contract on business-technical cooperation will be signed these days.
The only maritime line between Montenegro and Italy will start from the end of June and the ship will operate during the summer months. In this business, Barska plovidba will have income from tickets sold in their branches. The crew is managed by an Italian shipping company whose company is registered in Portugal.
After Barska plovidba sold its final passenger ship in December 2016, after 52 years, the ship "Dubrovnik", which was owned by Croatian Jadrolinija, sailed for five to six months a year on the Bar-Bari route. Due to the inability of the ship "Dubrovnik" to sail, the Croats could not extend the contract with the Montenegrin company this year.
Some news here from vijesti.me detailing Barska Plovidba's long-awaited acquisition plans - they plan to buy two ships to effectively replicate the fleet that they had a decade or so ago. Fascinatingly they specifically name Corsica Ferries and Adria Ferries as companies they intend to buy from. There is some pre-emptive defensiveness about the age of the ships which it doesn't seem will be significantly younger than the old Sveti Stefan and Sveti Stefan II.
Thje report also gives more info on the 2023 Montenegro to Italy sailings, for which details have changed from those reported a couple of months ago.
[Google Translated] Barska plovidba buys two ferries with its own money
The board of directors of the company "Barska plovidba" completed the financial arrangements for the purchase of two ferries that would travel from Bar to the Italian cities of Bari and Ancona and will request at the Shareholders' Meeting of the company, which is scheduled for the end of June, to supplement the agenda with an item related to this project, "Vijesti" learned from sources involved in this work.
In addition, during the summer season from June 28 to September 6, the coasts of Italy and Montenegro will be connected by a ferry line that will be operated by the company "Tnitsea Shipping" Ltd , with the ship "Ionian Star" instead of the Rijeka company "Jadrolinija" for which the bar company will be the agent.
Prime Minister Abazović with ministers during a recent visit to the company, Photo: Government of Montenegro
An amendment to the agenda of the meeting will be requested, and what is important to emphasize is that the Board of Directors has the support of minority shareholders for the purchase of ships without the help of the Government. The plan is to renovate the building in the center of Bar "Barska plovidba" and sell 32 apartments in this building, which has been abandoned for 20 years. From that money, along with additional money that the company earns from two cargo ships, the purchase of ships for the restoration of traffic with Italy would be financed. The daily rent of two ships is 23,275 thousand euros. This would amount to between five and six million for the purchase of 40- to 50-year-old ships. "For the renovation of the building in the center of Bar, a public invitation will be issued these days for a contractor who should complete the work in 120 days", explained the "Vijesti" source.
He stated that the plan is to buy the ships from Adria Ferries (larger ship) and Corsica Ferries (smaller ship).
"What should be emphasized when it comes to the age of the ships and the ships that operate between Croatia and Italy and Albania and Italy are older. Jadrolinija travels to Italy with the ships "Marko Polo" (50 years old) and "Moby Zaza" (42 years old) [sic - they mean SNAV in the latter case]. Two Ventouris companies operate from Albania to Italy, with two 43-year-old ships (Rigel II, Rigel III) and one 29-year-old (Rigel VII) and Adria Ferry company ships - Francesca, 44 years old, and Marina, 30 years old ", the source of "Vijesti" said.
Since the sale of its ferry "Sveti Stefan II" for scrap in May 2017, "Barska plovidba" has not had an adequate ship with which to maintain a regular maritime line between Montenegro and Italy. Therefore, in the last few years, it cooperated with the largest Croatian passenger shipping company Jadrolinija.
The acting executive director of Barska plovidba, Mirsan Tršić, told "Vijesta" that this year, instead of Jadrolinija, the connection between the coasts of Italy and Montenegro, via the ferry line, will be carried out by the company "Tnitsea Shipping" Ltd of Madeira with the ship "Ionian Star".
"In this particular case, it is not a charter of a ferry boat, but our company is an agent for the mentioned boat, so we are engaged in the same way as with Jadrolinija. The ship "Ionian Star" will operate in the summer season this year, with the planned first sailing to Bar on June 28, 2023, ending with September 6 of this year, when the last trip is planned. This ferry will initially operate on the Bar - Brindisi line, until the sudden and unexpected technical problem on another ship of the company, which regularly maintains the Valona - Brindisi line, is resolved. We hope that the shipping company will be able to solve the problems, in order to realize the Bar - Bari line that was agreed upon, but technical problems forced the shipping company to realize the line in question in the above-mentioned way for now", explained Tršić.
The schedule and price list for the summer season for the ship "Ionian Star" are an integral part of the agreement and will be published these days on the company's website.
"The shortest time to sail to Bar is at 8 am, every Wednesday, and the departure from Bar to Brindisi is at 12 noon on the same day. Passengers and the public will be informed about any possible changes to the timetable", Tršić said.
He added that the Board of Directors has been working intensively and monitoring the market for several months in the area of procuring an adequate ferry, following all available information on the stock market of free vessels that are being sold and at the same time conducting a direct tour and inspection of several vessels.
From Adria Ferries ?
AF Francesca ? If anybody brings 4 Mio. (the 6 Mio. was a theoretic "list-price-idea") to an office in Hamburg he can take this scrap-ferry... . https://commercial.apolloduck.com/boat/ ... ale/721369
But nobody who i know personally would take one step on this ferry... or on other similar 43-50 years old ferries in South Europe. Why they do not start with 1 ferry first only - but much more younger and modern ? There are f.ex. 2 chinese 161m ferries available with 2000 lm and 1128 Pax from 2006/2007 - officially for 18 Mio. - but if somebody offer ca. 10 Mio. he will get them.
https://commercial.apolloduck.com/boat/ ... ale/572291
Some new furnitures, new lamps, new carpets and it would be a much better ferry than any super-old ferry from Corsica or Adria Ferries.
And with German engines, MAN means "Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg" - and 2007 or 1980 - this is really a big difference - also later with fuel-costs and maintenance-costs. Interior-refresh work could be self very cheap done in Montenegro where are (together with 3, 4, 5 other countries) the cheapest salaries / wages in Europe.
ropax wrote: ↑08 Jun 2023 15:23
or on other similar 43-50 years old ferries in South Europe.
Thousands of people will take a step on 43-50 year old ferries in Greece (and Croatia, and other places) and get where they want to go to to this summer without any problem.
ropax wrote: ↑08 Jun 2023 15:23
or on other similar 43-50 years old ferries in South Europe.
Thousands of people will take a step on 43-50 year old ferries in Greece (and Croatia, and other places) and get where they want to go to to this summer without any problem.
So what's the problem?
I suspect a very big misunderstanding/ignorance of the condition these ships are in and the safety regimes they operate in.
This article confirms AF Francesca is the Adria Ferries ship in question (it could hardly be anything else). Of perhaps even greater interest is what would replace her in the Adria fleet. She is a pretty chunky ship with a decent car capacity.
While we're at it the timetable for the Brindisi-Bar route, now definitively operated by the Ionian Star and not the European Star, has been published on the Barska Plovidba website.
There are more twists in this plot than a tin of spaghetti.
[Translated] Barska Plovidba: The arrangement of the Bar-Brindisi ferry line has been cancelled
The company "Tnitsea Shipping" Ltd has unilaterally cancelled the arrangement on the establishment of the Bar-Brindisi ferry line, Barska Plovidba has announced.
An arrangement was concluded with that company and Barska Plovidba was supposed to be the general agent in the port of Bar, from the end of June to the beginning of September.
"Barska Plovidba intensively undertakes actions and activities to find a solution for the organisation of a ferry line, which would connect the port of Bar with Italy," the announcement states.
It is added that Barska plovidba expects the state, as the majority owner, to adopt the proposed decision on granting consent for the procurement of a ro-ro/passenger ship at the regular Shareholders' Meeting on June 27.
More on the previously reported AF Francesca purchase, including some local push-back on the wisdom of the purchase and unsurprising confirmation that she will be renamed Sveti Stefan.
Some salient comments from the article linked to at the bottom extracted - I'm not convinced that these technical criticisms matter that much in reality - other than the challenge of making such a ship profitable - as she works adequately on the Bari-Durres line at the moment but they are worth highlighting:
[Translated] Barska Plovidba pays almost €6 million for a ferry that has undergone several reconstructions and breakdowns
In the fall, the company Barska Plovidba will buy the old ferry "AF Francesca" belonging to the Italian maritime company Adria Ferries from Ancona, and it is expected that this transaction will cost between five and six million euros.
This was confirmed unofficially by "Vijesta" in circles close to the management of Barska plovidba, which is majority owned by the state.
The AF Francesca at Durres
The "Vijesti" source says that Barska has been "measuring" the "AF Francesco" for a long time, and that the ferry has already been inspected by two experienced long-sea captains from the company's management, as well as its technical director, and allegedly determined that the ship is in a good enough condition to for the next five or six years.
"'AF Francesca' was until recently for sale at a price of four million euros, but recently the ship was overhauled and its class was renewed, which is now valid until 2028, so it has increased in price and will cost at least five million euros. We expect the ferry will be bought immediately after the end of the season," said the source.
"AF Francesca", which in recent years has been sailing on regular lines from the Albanian port of Durrës to Bari and occasionally Ancona in Italy, will most likely become the new, fourth-named "Sveti Stefan" in the fall.
"AF Francesca" was built way back in 1979 in the Italcantieri shipyard in the city of Castelmare di Stabija near Naples, under the name "Domiziana" as the first in a class of a total of six "Strade Romane" ferries for the Italian state shipping company Tirrenia.
Apart from the capacity of 2,000 passengers and 610 vehicles, which are (too) large for the needs of the Bar-Bari line, part of the professional public in Montenegro is skeptical about the intention of Barska Plovidba to buy the "AF Francesca" primarily due to its age and the fact that it is a ship that has Fiat-GMT main and auxiliary engines that have been out of production for decades and spare parts for them are hard to come by.
"For these engines, there are almost no spare parts on the market anymore. We found only used parts and we supplied them from India, where ships that had propulsion or auxiliary engines of this type were previously scrapped. The crankshaft on the left main engine of "AF Francesca" was changed in 2014, and in 2021 the crankshaft on the right engine was also changed. Of course, used parts were installed because there are no new ones. Those engines consume a lot, and now only use diesel because they are no longer allowed to run on heavy oil, so "AF Francesca" would "just for one trip between Bar and Bari consume between 30 and 35 tons of diesel. That would not even be profitable in the middle of the summer season when the ship would be the most full of passengers and vehicles, let alone during the rest of the year," said an experienced a marine engineer who sailed on this ferry for years and was even on it in 2015 when a fire broke out in the engine room.
The source listed in detail all the shortcomings and technical problems that this time ferry has - from problematic engines that often break down due to former poor maintenance and the use of used spare parts, problematic engine cooling system and auxiliary systems, bad air conditioning, ventilation and heating of 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 the stabilizers that occurred after the installation of sponsons in 2015, bad pipelines and tanks, which is to be expected for a 44-year-old ship, problems with the hydraulic system for overturning the propeller wings during manoeuvres, the deficient automation and monitoring system in the engine room, which is why the ship needs a minimum of 17 well-trained machinists in the crew...
"'AF Francesca' is a total failure of a ship. In order for that ship to look like something, a minimum of 20 to 30 million euros should be invested in it, and for that money you can buy a much better and much better maintained second-hand ferry about 20 years old. "AF Francesca" would not have passed any normal port state control, but since it flies the Italian flag and the company that owns it is from Italy, the ship passed through PS controls, both in Italy and Albania," said. the source, who wished to remain anonymous, told "Vijesti".
The proposed purchase of the AF Francesca remains a source of contention in Montenegro. This news item is an example (the new government' referred to is that arising out of elections last month although it looks set to be another unstable one without a clear majority in Parliament).
Reference to the "White Saint" is to the old Sveti Stefan II (ex-Prinz Hamlet/Nieborow) which operated for Montenegro Lines between 2002 and 2017.
[Google translated] Leković: Stop the purchase of the ferry, let the new Government decide on the purchase of the ship
Momčilo Leković, a Democrat councilor in the SO Bar, announced that, after the newly elected management board of "Barska plovidba", a company majority owned by the state, made a decision to buy the 44-year-old ferry "AF Francesca" in the Autumn for the amount of five or six million euros, the public's anxiety, especially that of Bar, has not subsided for days.
"In the last ten days, we have heard numerous and one would say completely justified counter-arguments regarding the purchase of the ferry, which was first launched back in 1979. And while critics of this decision lined up in front of the Montenegrin public, including the Bar local parliament, of which I am a part, and which asked for an explanation regarding the purchase of this very ship, we have not received a single argument in favour from the company "Barska plovidba" so far, except for the well-known fact that the renewal of the Bar-Bari line is very necessary for our country. And it is absolutely true that the urgent need of our country, city and company is to "join the coasts", but we cannot and should not carry out this joining at any cost, i.e. not thinking long-term but only short-term. That is my position and that is the position of the committee that I represent, and at the same time the position of the vast majority of citizens of both Bar and Montenegro. With the possible purchase of "AF Franceska", we may risk that after less than a decade we will again remember the tragic scenes of our shipping and economy, when we saw off the "White Saint" as everyone in Bar called him, who ended his life in Turkey as a piece of scrap metal."
He explains that "Af Franceska", looking at all the indicators and characteristics, and above all the age, if not immediately, then in a few years, could suffer the same fate, which he repeats, would be a new blow and a reminder of the inglorious days of our seafaring that we are all trying to forget.
"Our economy and our seafaring needs a long-term vision, it needs a relatively young, operational, economical and long-term functional ship that will meet needs and represent a pledge for the future. With that, respecting the decision not to attend the parliamentary session announced on Monday, which will certainly at times have elements of self-promotion by those political entities whose three-decade policy has led to the fact that today we do not have a single ferry in the state fleet, we ask "Barska plovidba" as a responsible company on behalf of the vast majority of citizens to stop the purchase of the "Af Franceska" ferry and relax the public, so that the new government and the new relevant ministry will decide on this in the fall. That would be a wise move by a responsible state company and responsible people who listen to the voice of their citizens".
The AF Francesca purchase looks like it is cancelled -
[Google translated] Barska plovidba gave up on the purchase of the ferry "AF Francesca"
The management of the Barska plovidba company suddenly gave up its intention to buy the dilapidated Italian ferry "AF Francesca" - it was confirmed to "Vijesta" in well-informed circles close to the management of the Bar maritime company, which is majority owned by the state.
The company has not yet issued an official statement about it, but it seems that the main reason for suddenly abandoning the already agreed controversial deal is the enormous public pressure that arose in the past month or so after the information was published that the Board of Directors proposed, and the Shareholders' Assembly of Barska plovidba after amina of the Government, as the majority owner, accepted the decision to buy a dilapidated large ferry that does not meet the needs of the Bar-Bari line at all for the sum of between five and six million euros.
Whilst Adria Ferries have expressed interest in re-opening the Bar-Ancona line, potentially with local Montenegrin involvement (Barska Plovidba has been mentioned inevitably) there has also been confirmation that there again won't be any presence on the Bar-Bari route this summer.
[Google translated] No Bar-Bari shipping line this summer either
For the second year in a row, no passenger ship will operate on the Bar-Bari sea line during the summer tourist season.
We learn that there was no interest from ship owners in the Bar-Bari line, because for now they do not have an adequate ferry for night trips.
Bar and Montenegro saw that in the jubilee year, 60 years since the establishment of the regular maritime line Bar-Bari-Bar, there is no ferry connecting the coasts of Montenegro and Italy.
Barska plovidba lost its passenger ship "Sveti Stefan II" in December 2016 after it lost its class. Since then, for the next six summers, the ferry "Dubrovnik", which was owned by the Croatian "Jadrolinija", sailed seasonally on the line Bar-Bari.
After the Croats sold the ferry "Dubrovnik" last summer, apparently there is no adequate ship on the market either - that is, a company interested in the Bar-Bari-Bar maritime line, the Montenegrin "window to the world" by sea remains "closed".
On the threshold of April, even the last hopes are sinking, despite the optimistic announcements from the Government.
The Government of Montenegro announced last week that they hope to restore the ferry on the Bar-Ancona route as early as 2024. This was discussed during the meeting between Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and the head of the Adria Ferries company Alberto Rossi.
Spajić and Rossi agreed: "The ferry will be the fastest connection between Montenegro and Western Europe". Rossi explained to us that "the faster ferry from Ancona can reach Montenegro in 10 hours"
It was stated that the opening of this line could have a positive effect on tourism in both countries, which is true.
However, even if the company Adria Ferries would be interested in connecting Bar and Durres for two or three months on side trips from Durres [in Albania] to the Italian port, the technical characteristics of their ships remain unknown, as well as the conditions at berth 5 of the Port of Bar.
