Greece-Cyprus Sea Connection begins May 2021
Greece and Cyprus relaunch their longstanding sea connection later this year.
Last month, we had reported about a tender process for reinstating sea links between Cyprus and Greece. As a follow-up to that report, Hellenic Shipping News confirms that the sea link between these two nations is to officially commence later this year in May. This follows months of deliberations involving the Shipping Deputy Ministry of Cyprus and the EU’s DG Competition to secure state aid of €5 million for reinstating this sea link.
Historically, both nations have had sea connections between themselves for eons. Over time, warfare purposes made way for peaceful ones such as trade and travel. In the modern era, a formal sea link between Cyprus and Greece was established in the 1960s, connecting Limassol or Famagusta with Piraeus. From there, ships would travel further to Haifa in Israel, and even to Beirut in Lebanon or Alexandria in Egypt, whenever possible.
By the year 2000 though, with the onset of other cheaper and faster means of travel, the sea connection between these two nations was suspended. It is only in 2019 that talks for the resumption of this sea route began, with the tender process slated for the 12th of December 2020, as we had reported. One-way passenger ticket prices have been fixed at €50 while a return ticket would cost €80. The same for a cabin would be €80 and €120, respectively.
