State Aid to Saremar Ruled Illegal
After an in-depth investigation, the European Commission has concluded that part of the support measures that Sardinia had granted to the maritime company Saremar in 2011 and 2012 was incompatible with EU state aid rules. In particular, a capital injection not approved on market conditions and the compensation for carrying out certain maritime services have provided an undue economic advantage to Saremar that its competitors did not have. Saremar needs to pay back this undue advantage of around €10.8 million in total, to remedy the distortion of competition this has created. At the same time the Commission concluded that two letters of comfort issued by the Region did not guarantee any financial obligation of the company and did not therefore constitute State aid to Saremar.
UK Ferries Among Least Safe In Europe, Survey Finds
A safety survey found that three of the four worst performing ferries in Europe sail from British ports. The survey of 26 ferries by European motoring organizations gave the lowest rating to P&O European Ferries' "Pride of Rathlin," which sails from Cairnryan in Scotland to Larne in Northern Ireland. P&O Portsmouth's "Pride of Hampshire," which connects Portsmouth and Cherbourg, and SeaFrance's "SeaFrance Monet," which sails from Dover to Calais, were also judged to have "poor" safety standards. The "Oglasa" ferry, which connects Piombino and Portoferraio in Italy and is operated by Toremar, a subsidiary of Italian state-owned Tirrenia di Navigazione, was the fourth boat to be given a "poor" rating by the survey.
UK Ferries Among Least Safe In Europe, Survey Finds
A safety survey has found that three of the four worst performing ferries in Europe sail from British ports. The survey of 26 ferries by European motoring organizations gave the lowest rating to P&O European Ferries' "Pride of Rathlin", which sails from Cairnryan in Scotland to Larne in Northern Ireland. P&O Portsmouth's "Pride of Hampshire", which connects Portsmouth and Cherbourg, and SeaFrance's "SeaFrance Monet", which sails from Dover to Calais, were also judged to have "poor" safety standards. The "Oglasa" ferry that connects Piombino and Portoferraio in Italy and is operated by Toremar, a subsidiary of Italian state-owned Tirrenia di Navigazione, was the fourth boat to be given a "poor" rating by the survey.
Sperry Marine Wins VDR Order For Italy
Northrop Grumman Corporation's Sperry Marine unit has received an order to supply 39 VoyageMaster Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) systems for one of Italy's largest ferry fleets. The VoyageMaster systems will permit the ships to meet the new IMO and EU carriage requirements mandating installation of an approved VDR system after July 1, 2002. the equipment. Sardinia and Tunisia. The VDR, similar to an aircraft "black box," records vital information concerning the ship's position, movement, physical status and command and control for the period leading up to and following an incident. The data, including voice recordings from bridge microphones and VHF radio, is stored in a hardened memory capsule for recovery and analysis by safety investigators following an incident at sea. training.
