Paper: Operators not interested in Saaremaa-Latvia ferry service
Despite very good offered terms, potential operators are not interested in operating a ferry connection between the port of Mõntu on the Western Estonian island of Saaremaa and Western Latvia's Courland region, regional paper Saarte Hääl writes.
The provision of €400,000 by the state for dredging in the port in Mõntu has increasingly come into question due to lack of interest in the proposed Saaremaa-Latvia route on the part of possible providers.
"What the procurement told us is that no one is interested, even in a situation in which the public sector would pay the costs," Saaremaa Municipality transport adviser Karl Tiitson said.
According to Tiitson, the procurement was as simple as possible, without excessive conditions and rather biased toward the operator.
"We would have paid all the costs, and the shipper would have been the one imposing fares, keeping the entirety of ticket revenues to themselves," he explained.
An agreement to launch an international ferry route connecting Saaremaa directly to the the Latvian coast was first concluded by the municipalities that were later merged into Saaremaa Municipality. Preparations for the launch of this service began in 2017.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla
