Bulker owner Crnogorska Plovidba has requested Montenegrin government support to help it pay the latest instalment on a Chinese vessel loan.
The state-owned shipping company has been unable to find enough money to meet a repayment of $2.5m to the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank).
The last instalment deadline of 21 January was missed.
The country’s cabinet has agreed to cover the amount, CEEMarketWatch reported.
Crnogorska blamed a decline in revenue last year for its inability to pay, an official statement said.
The company borrowed $47.4m in 2010 to order its two Chinese-built 35,000-dwt handysizes delivered in 2012.
The owner explained that its revenue declined by 24% year on year between January and September, and even further by the end of the year.
The current outstanding amount on the loan is $7.1m and the last instalment is due in January 2025.
Crnogorska repays the loan in two annual instalments in January and July each year.
The finance came with a 15-year maturity, a five-year grace period and a fixed interest rate of 3%.
Debt to government is growing
The government has previously stepped in to help with earlier instalments.
Crnogorska failed to meet its obligations in 2021 and 2023, which prompted the government to intervene as a loan guarantor and repay $5.35m in 2021 and another $3.6m last year.
The shipowner owed the Montenegrin government $8.97m at the end of January as a result.
In January 2021, TradeWinds reported the company was facing an uncertain future after the government made a decision to halt further state aid for the loan.
But the move by the Agency for Competition Protection appears to have been reversed.
Crnogorska was formed in 2012 with $20m of investment from domestic and Norwegian banks.
