A new boat for Symi?
Latest Developments

The outcome of the tendering process for the subsidised Dodekanese routes (Kos-Nisiros-Tilos-Symi-Rhodes and Rhodes-Kastelorizo-Rhodes) seems to be in doubt. After the initial reports on the opening of the tenders last week that SAOS Ferries was almost defintely going to win over ANES with the boat SAOS II replacing the PROTEUS, it seems that the outcome may not be a foregone conclusion. As mentioned in yesterday's news report, there was some dispute over SAOS II's speed which seems to be at the heart of the problem.

Even though there has been NO official announcement by the Ministry of the Aegean and Island Policy yet, it has been reported today that the SAOS II tender was declared incomplete, invalidating their participation in the tendering process. If this is confirmed, PROTEUS will be awarded the contract!

Fotis Manousis, the boss of SAOS Ferries,claims that their tender was complete and that it included (as the process requires) an official declaration by the captain that the boat's speed was 20.5 knots per hour. Mr Manousis was also asked for an additional document signed by the shipyard confirming the captain's declaration, something he claims is not usual practice. The dispute seems to be that even though he has submited the requested paperwork from the shipyard, the tendering commitee refused to accept it as it was submitted after the tendering deadline (20 November), and therefore banned his company from the process altogether. Mr Manousis said that he will be filing an appeal to the tendering committee and he is even considering the possibility of going to court if his appeal is not upheld.

As reported in the "Rodiaki" newspaper today, Mr Manousis claims that before the tendering process, representatives from ANES met with him and offered not to submit a bid if he was going to buy PROTEUS off them. He claims that he accepted to pay ANES the same amount of money ANES paid for PROTEUS, but ANES refused as, according to Mr Manousis, they wanted to get double the money, at which point any negotiations were halted.

According to Greek law, when the tendering process involves a (more than a year's) contract for difficult-to-reach islands, the first tenders to be considered are those submited for boats who are up to 8 years old. If there are no such boats, then boats up to 20 years old are considered, and so on. That means that if the tender of SAOS II was accepted as valid, then it would have been the automatic winner as there were no other boats in that category (of up to 8 years old).