Siremar’s privatization to be rerun

Genoa - After the Sardinian company Saremar, now its Sicilian cousin Siremar turns to state help. This time however, the State Council showed the red card to this deal and blocked the sale, upholding a previous ruling of Lazio’s regional administrative tribunal (TAR) dated June 7th 2012. Siremar had been bought out by the Compagnia dell Isole (which is controlled by the Region of Sicily) after the “privatization” process of Tirrenia and other smaller shipping companies of the State’s portfolio. Its major competitor, the company Società di Navigazione Siciliana (that is Vittorio Morace’s Ustica Lines) had appealed against it. Backing up the tribunal’s decision, the State Council deemed the sale irregular and had it blocked. According to the newspaper “Italia Oggi”, the appeal was about a counter surety borrowed by the Sicilian region from Unicredit, the guarantor bank of the purchaser Compagnia Delle Isole. The State Council agreed that this surety, since it was provided by a public entity – in this case the Region – constituted State aid and was therefore illegal.

Currently, the tender needs to be repeated. The uncertain future of Siremar – Compagnia delle Isole becomes a puzzle. A consequence of the State Council’s ruling is the fact that the Region’s involvement in managing Siremar has triggered several conflicts of interest. The regional Economics head office is the proprietor; however, in order to be able to operate the connections between Sicily and the minor islands (Eolie, Egadi, Ustica, Pantelleria and Pelagie) as a public service, the office got a concession from the regional office of Infrastructure and Transport. Just last year, the concession was contested due to Siremar’s deficiencies in providing that service. Originally, the deadline to solve the critical deficiencies was December 31st 2013. The mayors of the minor islands were afraid this would mean the isolation of their communities; because of this, the regional Transport advisor Nino Bartolotta gave Siremar a 90 day extension. The continuity of service is guaranteed and the Siremar fleet will continue to operate until the new tender is completed. Siremar-Compagnia delle Isole have until the end of March to solve the service problems which consist of: the use of an unsuitable ship for the Lampedusa route, after the fire onboard the Palladio; the failure to honour published schedules; and the use of a smaller fleet than expected.

All these issues have been put back on the table because of the ruling. After the State Council confirmed the tribunal’s decision, the appeals presented by Compagnia delle Isole, Mediterranea Holding and the Ministry for Economic Development were rejected. According to the judges, the Region’s guarantee “provided an illegal competitive advantage to Compagnia delle Isole s.p.a., whose bid was based on a system of reciprocal sureties, constructed within various legal frameworks which, although separate on a formal level, show evidence of being connected in a functional sense and were included to achieve common goals.”