Following the failure of the previous request of offers for building a roro vessel fit for transporting railcars, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana’s last call for shipyards interested at constructing three dual-fuel fast ferries due to be deployed on the Strait of Messina also attracted no participants.
The contract price was roughly EUR 52 million euros, of which approximately EUR 1.2 million for the project. RFI is now considering how to proceed; one option is to issue a new call for tenders.
Complexity of the procedure and rising costs of raw materials might be among the reasons for the failure according to some sources familiar with the matter.
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, rail infrastructure network manager and company part of the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane group, last summer made public its fleet renewal plan which consists of:
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- Refitting and hybridization of the 2013-built ferry MESSINA
- Delivery of the new ship IGINIA which took place earlier this year
- Purchase of a new ro-pax ship before 2025
- Cold ironing system ashore in the ports on the two sides of the Strait of Messina
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Project to buy three high-speed vessels dual-fuel LNG or Electric for passenger transport service