Wednesday, 14 November 2012

Fuel Costs Make Greek Coastal Shippers Slow

Fuel Costs Make Greek Coastal Shippers Slow | Greece.GreekReporter.com Latest News from Greece

According to this article, about half of the ferries from the mainland to the Aegean islands and Crete may not over the next 3 months, and the journey times of those that do run may be extended to cut fuel costs.

Looking at the ferries to and from Katapola in Amorgos - last month there were three Blue Star ferries a week to Piraeus.  Now there is one.**  There are still two ferries a week from the other end of the island, Aegiale (but no buses to get there).  Last month both the Artemis (twice a week) and Aqua Spirit (once a week) ran from Amorgos to Syros - now neither are running.  The local and reliable Express Scopelitis is still running six days a week from Amorgos to Naxos.

The fares on Blue Star ferries are I understand about 25% higher than the fares on traditional, slower, ferries.  But on many routes there are no slower traditional ferries.  So passengers will be paying the 25% surcharge to travel on faster ferries - and the faster ferries will be running slow. 

**  after writing this I checked the Greek Travel pages - there are now two Blue Star ferries a week from Katapola to Piraeus.  Last time I checked the tiemtable may have been reduced because of the current strike.

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