ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM MSc in Maritime Economics and Logistics 2008/2009 The Greek passenger ferry transport system Service Level Agreements in the route Piraeus œ Samos Island By Anastasios Kefalas Copyright © Maritime Economics & Logistics Dedicated to: My grandfather Lefteris Island of Samos, 24th August 2009 - 2 - Acknowledgements W riting the Thesis was a great experience for me. As I come from the island of Samos it was a very good opportunity for me to publish the needs of the residents of the islandic areas and try to contribute the least to the solution of their problems. The accomplishment of the Thesis would not have been possible without the support and help of the people I would like to mention here. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervising professor Dr. Konstantinos Chlomoudis whose help during the Thesis was valuable. Also, I would like to thank Mr. Petros Kostagiolas for his patience and guidance. W ithout his help the Thesis would not have been completed. Furthermore, i would like to thank Mr. George Koulikas from the port authority of Port of Samos for providing me the statistical data and special thanks to all the experts that participated in the Delphic Method and gave their scientific opinion. Finally I would like to thank my friends Christos, Chris, John and Lefteris for helping me and supporting me not only during the Thesis period but also during my studies in Rotterdam. - 3 - Abstract /ive years after the liberalization of maritime transport in the majority of the Greek domestic routes (removal of cabotage) and the abolition of the age limit applying to vessels, the Greek ferry transport system is characterized by several major problems. These problems do not concern only important issues that deal with the functioning of the state and its interventions, such as port infrastructure problems, institutional issues, structure of the network design, but also issues concerning the offering services by the shipping companies such as malfunctions of the fleet, unjustified high tariffs and fares and non service of certain isolated routes and islands. The Thesis examines these problems by presenting the Aegean ferry system and the Adriatic ferry system. The difference between these two systems will emphasize the necessity for individual approach of these two cases. Also we will examine the implementation of an Essential Terms Agreement through a case study in a very popular Greek route of the Aegean Sea. The main target of this case study will be to identify the needs of the islandic areas and to defend the main research issue that an individual technical consideration is required for developing transportation Service Level Agreement. - 4 - Table of Contents ACKNOW LEDGEMENTS......................................................................................- 3 - ABSTRACT...........................................................................................................- 4 - TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................- 5 - LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................- 7 - LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................- 8 - CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH QUESTION AND METHODOLOGY..........................- 9 - CHAPTER 2: ANALYSIS OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GREEK PASSENGER FERRY SYSTEM..........................................................................- 12 - 2.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. - 12 - 2.2 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN EUROPE ................................. - 12 - 2.2.1 The importance of transport in Europe................................................- 12 - 2.2.2 European transport policy ............. 2!32 2.3 Recent changes - Global trends in the transport sector affecting European Transport Policy...........................................................................- 18 - 2.2.4 The concept of multimodal transportation...........................................- 20 - 2.2.5 European passenger ferry transport...................................................- 21 - 2.3 BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AEGEAN PASSENGER FERRY SYSTEM.......... - 26 - 2.3.1 Introduction.........................................................................................- 26 - 2.3.2 Geography œ Network design..............................................................- 26 - 2.3.3 Fares...................................................................................................- 27 - 2.3.2 Fleet Composition œ Age.....................................................................- 30 - 2.3.3 Volume of traffic..................................................................................- 31 - 2.3.4 Port infrastructure and problems.........................................................- 32 - 2.3.5 Legal Regime......................................................................................- 33 - 2.3.6 SW OT ANALYSIS...............................................................................- 34 - 2.4 BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ADRIATIC PASSENGER FERRY SYSTEM ........ - 35 - 2.4.1 Introduction.........................................................................................- 35 - 2.4.2 Structure of the market........................................... 243 2 2.4.3 Demand of services in the Adriatic ferry system .................................- 36 - 2.4.4 Supply of services in the Adriatic ferry system ....................................- 37 - 2.5. COMPARISON œ THE NEED FOR INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION FOR EACH FERRY SYSTEM - 38 - CHAPTER 3: CASE STUDY œ INVESTIGATION FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT IN THE ROUTE PIRAEUS - SAMOS .............- 42 - 3.1 INTRODUCTION œ SETTING THE SCENE .......................................................... - 42 - 3.2 METHODOLOGY............................................................................................ - 44 - 3.2.1 The need to develop Essential Terms Agreement in order to regulate European transport......................................................................................- 44 - 3.2.2 The concept of the Essential Terms Agreement.................................- 46 - 3.2.3 Approach for development of the Essential Terms Agreement (four stages) .........................................................................................................- 46 - 3.2.4 The use of the Essential Terms Agreement........................................- 48 - - 5 - 3 2.5 1st Stage: Investigation for the necessity of implementation of an Essential Terms Agreement.........................................................................- 50 - 3.2.6 2nd Stage: Development and formation of the content of the Essential Terms Agreement........................................................................................- 52 - 3.2.7: 3rd Stage - Implementation of the content of the Essential Terms Agreement....................................................................................................- 53 - 3.2.8: 4th Stage - Monitoring of the Essential Terms Agreement..................- 55 - 3.3 IMPLEMENTATION œ FIELD STUDY ................................................................. - 56 - 3.3.1 Introduction.........................................................................................- 56 - 3.3.2 Setting the scene................................................................................- 56 - 3.3.3 Current situation in the islands............................................................- 59 - 3.3.4 Delphic Method...................................................................................- 62 - 3.4 RESULTS ..................................................................................................... - 64 - 3.5 DISCUSSION................................................................................................. - 68 - 3.6 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................. - 72 - CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION ..............................................................................- 74 - 4.1 MAJOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION OF THE ANALYSIS ................................... - 74 - 4.2 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ...................................................... - 75 - BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................- 76 - APPENDICES......................................................................................................- 81 - APPENDIX 1 ....................................................................................................... - 81 - APPENDIX 2 ....................................................................................................... - 85 - - 6 - List of tables Table 1: Number of seaborne passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports (in 1000)....................................................................................................................- 23 - Table 2: Top œ 10 European passenger ports in 2007 œ by total passengers embarked and disembarked (in 1000) .................................................................- 25 - Table 3: Average Fare for a double cabin 1st class (return) œ Low season..........- 39 - Table 4 Average Fare for a passenger car (return) œ Low season ......................-