More and more the waters are churned in which it navigates French SNCM



For the company of French navigation SNCM (Société Nationale Maritime Run Méditerraneée), than work services ferry between the Corsica and continental France and international routes for Tunisia, Algeria and the Sardinia, seem to light sharpen the difficulties of the decision of the slid days of the assembly of the Territorial Collectivity of Corsica (CTC) to reexamine the convention of public service, currently in vigor with the SNCM and the Companies Méridionale de Navigation (CMN).

The contract with SCNM and CMN has had beginning on July 1°, 2007 with fixed expiration in order on December 31, 2013. However last November the administrative Appeals Court of Marseilles has cancelled the deliberation on June 7, 2007 with which the assembly of the run Collectivity it had attributed to group SNCM-CMN the convention of public service for the development of marine connections between the port of Marseilles and the ports of the Corsica ( on 9 November 2011). The administrative Appeals Court has established that the resolution of the relative ones contracted will have effect the next 1° september.

The president of the surveillance council of the SNCM, Gérard Couturier, than last month had proposed to the Prime Minister of the Territorial Collectivity of the Corsica to acquire the company for an euro ( on 9 March 2012), it has assumed the halving of the force job of the company, currently composed from 1.600 people, because of the possible reduction of the operating activity and the eventual restitution of subsidies for 30-50 million euros received from the French State between 1990 and the 2006 that are object of an investigation by the EU commission, whose pronunciamento is attended for the next summer. Moreover the company has accused an sensitive decrease of the volumes transported on the routes for the Africa North.

SNCM is privatized in 2005 and is controlled by the Veolia Transdev, joint venture 50:50 between Caisse DES Dépôt ET Consignations (CDC) and Veolia Environnement. This last one last week has announced to have under way negotiations with group financial public CDC in order to find the SNCM control. The objective of Veolia Environnement, that it intends to exit from the field of the transport, is to acquire the quota indirectly stopped 33% from CDC in the SNCM, operation that would return the eventual cession of the quota Veolia in the company easier. Currently, in fact, joint venture joint Veolia Transdev possesses 66% of SNCM, while the remaining quota is stopped by French State (25%) and by the dependent of company (9%).

While the assembly of the Territorial Collectivity of the Corsica, that it has deliberated the resource to a convention of delegation of public service for the exercise of the services of marine transport of passengers and goods between the ports of Marseilles and of the Corsica of the duration 12-year-old and has authorized the executive Prime Minister of the Corsica to carry out the activities in order to realize the contest for the allocation of such services, has confirmed also the hypothesis to constitute a regional marine society, as society of mixed economy or local public society (SPL), that it would be charged to operate the connections with the island. To such fine it has deliberated the institution of a special commission that will have to study the feasibility of the creation of the new company and the modalities in order to place it in exercise.