The tender for the arrangement of ferry communication between the island and Greece failed. According to the information of shipping ministry the deadline for bids expired and nobody showed any practical interest.

The tender started on December 11. The estimated contract sum was 15 mln. euros, term – 36 months, state subsidy was planned up to 5 mln. euros per year. The ferry was to become an alternative to the air service and was to operate weekly flights from May to September, once every two weeks – in April and October, and once a month in November and March.

Now the department is going to analyze the reasons for the failure of the tender, and then it will be announced again.

With all that, such an unpopular with the contractors topic has managed to become the center of an “intellectual scandal” between Larnaca and Limassol, the two ports where ferries could arrive. Recall that Larnaca has recently complained that the terms of the tender for the Cypriot port create an undesirable and unacceptable advantage for the competitor.