The SNCM will have its new car-ferry

The SNCM (Société Nationale Corse Meéditerranée) is allowed to build a new car-ferry with a capacity of 1.800 passengers. The company has been authorized by the government late last week. The new boat , which will be the subject of a call for tenders soon, is intended to substitute the already old Napoléon and Liberté (they respectively came on line in 1976 and 1980). According to specifications, the ship will have to adapt to Corsica lines and to North Africa ones.
As for lines from Nice, exclusively to Corsica, the SNCM has chosen NGV which have boosted traffic between Nice and Corsica. The maritime company has thus started works in Lorient for a third and amazing NGV of 1.100 passengers and 250 vehicles. It will be able to sail all kinds of sea, what was not conceivable with the Aliso and the Asco, which are smaller ships (500 passengers and 150 vehicles). The ship should be ready in April 2000.
With the rival company, Corsica ferries, which has chosen the solution of a new rapid ferry the Mega Express, the Nice-Corsica line has not stopped growing. Already in 1999, it should up to 650.000 passengers, a figure which seemed inaccessible three or four years ago.