[quote="Adriana"]
I was speaking to Lemonia about this the other day (she co-edits the Greek town hall newspaper, Ta Nea) and she was saying that the town hall is having an uphill battle with the ferry companies on all fronts.
From private observation, it seems to have been a seriously bad move for ANES to allow municipalities from other islands to buy shares in the company as this has slowly pushed Symi's requirements into the back ground, to the detriment of the entire population of the island as everyone's income one way or another is connected to tourism. At the same time the shareholders, like shareholders everywhere, are more interested in the bottom line, which is why there is the mysterious Agios Nektarious, an ANES boat that none of us has ever seen, featuring prominently on their website as it churns up and down between Pireaus and Aegina.
Meanwhile the other shipping company, the privately owned Dodecanese Seaways, has opted to increase the number of routes it serves but without increasing the size of the fleet, so 2 catamarans are spread thinner over the Dodecanese (yes, Richard, I agree, that makes for an interesting mental picture
)
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Thanks for the info Adriana - i should imagine frustrating in the extreme for those who live and work in Symi.