October 8th at 12 AM local time is the limit date for shipyards interested at submitting their offers for building a new ro-pax train ferry due to be deployed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) on the Strait of Messina.
The tender launched by the national railways Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane specifies that the starting terms are €56.5 million for the price and 495 days for the construction time.
This new vessel will be a sister ship of the MESSINA which was delivered in 2013 from Nuovi Cantieri Apuania based in Carrara, Italy.
Bluferries, another shipping company controlled by Ferrovie dello Stato group and active on the routes linking the two sides of the Strait of Messina, had just chartered-in for three months f(rom Tarmar) the high-speed vessel PRINCESS OF DUBROVNIK in order to provide as from 1 October a regular passenger service between Messina and Reggio Calabria.
The same service was previously covered by Liberty Lines.
