The traffic of the two ferry companies “public service delegates” for crossings to Corsica, Corsica Linea and La Méridionale, will be very disrupted on Monday and Tuesday by a strike, the two companies announced on Friday.
Corsica Linea announced on its website the cancellation of three continent-Corsica crossings and one Corsica-continent crossing on Monday and one continent-Corsica crossing and four Corsica-continent crossings on Tuesday, i.e. all of its connections announced for these two days.
For its part, La Méridionale, owned by the shipowner CMA CGM, indicated on its website that “due to a social movement, on Monday March 11 and Tuesday March 12, all our maritime connections with the continent and the Corsica will be very seriously disrupted.”
It was not immediately possible to obtain details from the company on the details of possible cancellations.
The CGT union filed a 48-hour strike notice in February for various demands, some of which specifically concern the maritime public service delegation (DSP), which over the 2023-2029 period consists of “compensation” of some 850 million euros. euros paid by the public authorities to the two companies.
In the viewfinder of Brussels
Under this DSP, since January 2023, they have shared, individually or in coordination, the five connections between the Mediterranean island (ports of Ajaccio, Bastia, Propriano, L'Île-Rousse and Porto-Vecchio) and Marseille.
At the end of February, the European Commission announced that it had opened an “in-depth investigation” into this aid, to “assess whether the public service compensation granted to Corsica Linea and La Méridionale for serving Corsica between 2023 and 2030 complies with the rules of the European Union in matters of State aid.
Brussels wants in particular to verify “whether the inclusion of the transport of towed goods and road drivers in the contracts is justified by a need for a public service, taking into account the already existence on the market of a commercial offer” from the neighboring port from Toulon.
In this case that of the Franco-Italian company Corsica Ferries, leader in the transport of passengers between Corsica and the continent and which unsuccessfully challenged the new DSP before the French administrative courts.