Legal battle on the seas to the detriment of passengers and hauliers forced to suffer serious inconveniences. The Moby Ale Due, the former Bithia of the Tirrenia – Cin shipping company, which was operating on the Genoa-Aiaccio-Porto Torres line, was blocked in the port of Ajaccio this morning at 6am by the French authorities. The ferry was subjected to precautionary seizure and the passengers on board were re-protected with departure from Porto Vecchio for Golfo Aranci.

The request for the precautionary measure on the ship was the Siem group, owner of the German shipyards in Flensburg which built the Maria Grazia Onorato, another Tirrenia ship stopped in the French port in May. At the basis of the legal dispute between the two groups Onorato and Siem over a clause in the agreements between the shipping company and the shipyard.

A controversy which Tirrenia did not mention in its note: «With reference to the news of the seizure which occurred in Ajaccio this morning of the Moby Ale 2 bound for Porto Torres, Tirrenia – Cin believes that, as in the case of the ro-ro ship Maria Grazia Honored, the Siem Group did not act in compliance with the law by interrupting a public service which caused great inconvenience to the 650 passengers who were on board and who were promptly re-protected with departure from Porto Vecchio for Golfo Aranci". Onorato's company "considers itself an injured party in this matter and will defend itself in all appropriate forums, both in Italy and abroad, requesting compensation for the damages suffered".

The witness

All this to the detriment of the passengers who, unaware of everything, endured difficulties and hours of waiting before setting off again, some by car or by coach, to reach Porto Vecchio where they only boarded the Corsica Ferries ship which will head to Porto Vecchio at 6.30pm. to Golfo Aranci: «I have been going on holiday to Sardinia for 15 years, I go there because the island has some wonderful places, but I don't understand why they have to force me not to go there anymore, precisely because of the transport difficulties», he explains Paolo Cardani, 60 years old, tourist from Milan, one of the passengers on the Moby Ale Due. «The inconveniences are increasingly unbearable each time. Tirrenia ships stink, are dirty and old, forcing the passenger to endure discouraging misadventures. The Sardinians must fight to have respect and guarantee the crossing with adequate means, as they do in Sicily. Instead they are too good and the service continues to be terrible."

Until the last moment they had no certainty of leaving again: «They told us different times, - adds the passenger - we received no respect either from the company or even from the French authorities, who do not take into account the serious inconveniences that we must suffer."

The unions

The general secretary of Filt Cgil Sardinia, Arnaldo Boeddu, who already two weeks ago, speaking at the hearing of the transport commission of the Chamber, had foreseen the inconveniences for the Porto Torres port, denounced yet another disservice in transport to and from Sardinia. : «The Genoa-Porto Torres route, which has always been a direct line and among those that should have been considered an essential service, has been making an intermediate stop in Ajaccio for a few days, two or three times a week», explains the trade unionist. «The Orlè ferry should arrive in Porto Torres as a replacement, a vessel of very old generation and concept which certainly - attacks Boeddu - does not satisfy the needs of mobility of people and transport of goods, given that it has a very low weight capacity to embark. All this also puts road transport jobs at risk as well as those generated by port activities."

The region

«We are working to monitor the situation and limit the inconvenience suffered by passengers of the Moby ferry in service on the Genoa-Ajaccio-Porto Torres route», says the Regional Transport Department : «Although maritime transport with the peninsula is not the responsibility of the regional administration but of the Ministry, we immediately took action to find a quick solution to the problem together with the bodies involved and the shipping company", explains councilor Barbara Manca. «Beyond the reason that caused the disservice, this is only the latest demonstration of how necessary it is to rethink the maritime territorial continuity services to and from Sardinia , attributing to the regional Administration a role of greater importance and decision-making power» , concludes the representative of the Todde Council.

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