Maritime transport: Corsica Ferries cedes Marseille to the SNCM

A sudden change took place at the end of last week in the small fight pursued between the maritime companies for the concession of public service for Corsica from January 1st 2002: the SNCM (Corsica Mediterranean National Company) and the CMN (Southern Shipping Company) were the only ones for the call for tenders for the shuttle between Marseille and Corsica. Corsica Ferries, which positioned itself as a challenger at the occasion of the competition opening of the shipping line between the continent and Corsica, opening claimed by Bruxelles, finally decided not to do it and not to compete with the SNCM in Marseille.Its general executive, Pierre Mattei, declared he preferred to develop in Toulon where the mega-express of the company, a NTGV (High speed traditional ship) began to run since the end of December 2000. The current dealer of the shipping line departing from Marseille, the tandem SNCM-CMN should logically get the call for tenders. The ad hoc committee of the Corsica Assembly will open the envelope on Monday April 2nd in the afternoon.