Inter-island service:
SAOS II tipped to win

The bids for the re-tendered inter-island service in the South of the Dodecanese were opened on Friday 16 March at the Ministry of the Aegean and Island Policy in the north Aegean island of Lesvos (the tender covered a total of 13 subsidised routes across the Aegean).

According to SymiGreece sources, ANES decided not to take part in the re-tendering process leaving SAOS Ferries as the only company submitting a bid for the Rhodes-Symi-Tilos-Nisiros-Kos route with the boat "SAOS II". The route is currently being served by ANES with the boat "Proteus" which will continue to run until the end of April. The new contract will carry on the same service which includes two return trips a week between Kos and Rhodes (via Nisiros, Tilos and Symi) with a connection to a Pireaus-bound car ferry from Kos.

An official announcement by the Ministry of the Aegean and Island Policy is expected within the next fortnight, after the bid's supporting paperwork is checked and the bid's financial details are revealed (the Invitation To Tender specifies a maximum subsidy per trip which bidders cannot exceed).

Sources have told SymiGreece that ANES and SAOS Ferries have come to an agreement and SAOS Ferries will become the majority shareholder in the "Proteus" by paying ANES 1,800,000 Euros. It is rumoured that the "Proteus" may move to Samothraki in the north of Greece, in the route that SAOS II used to serve. ANES will be left with the new "Agios Nektarios" boat which is expected to do the daily Rhodes-Symi-Rhodes run (which "Symi" used to do until last November), while "Symi" is likely to be used solely for day-cruises during the summer months.