There are now officially three candidates for the maritime DSP contract (Delegation of Public Service):
- Corsica Ferries (the yellow ships)
- Corsica Linea (the red ships)
- La Mériodionale (the blue ships)
On Monday 5 November, Corsica Ferries was the first company to present its candidature to the OTC (Office des Transports Corse).
Although not a complete surprise, it is now confirmed that Corsica Linea and La Mériodionale will both compete separately, after having been allies for many years.
The contract is for the ferry services between Marseille and five Corsican ports. The (difficult) decision will have to be taken before summer 2019. The new DSP starts on 1 October 2019 and lasts only until 31 December 2019. The relatively short period has to be seen as a test period, before switching to DSP’s of ten years.
La Mériodionale only has a fleet of three ro-pax ferries, but could have enough ships by adding chartered tonnage.
