SNCM is a French ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 company operating in the Mediterranean.

Its ferries sail from Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

, Toulon

Toulon

Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

, Nice

Nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

 on mainland France, Calvi, Bastia

Bastia

Bastia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It is also the second-largest city in Corsica after Ajaccio and the capital of the department....

, Ajaccio

Ajaccio

Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....

, Ile Rousse, Propriano

Propriano

Propriano is a commune in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the island of Corsica.It is situated on the Valinco Gulf.-Population:-References:*...

, and Porto Vecchio on Corsica

Corsica

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

, Porto Torres

Porto Torres

Porto Torres is a comune and city in northern Sardinia, in the Province of Sassari.It is situated on the north coast about 25 km east of the Gorditanian promontory , and on the spacious bay of the Gulf of Asinara.-History:...

 on Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

, Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

, Oran

Oran

Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...

, Skikda

Skikda

Skikda is a city in north eastern Algeria and a port on the Gulf of Stora, the ancient Sinus Numidicus. It was known as Philippeville until the end of the Algerian War of Independence in 1962...

 and Bejaia

Béjaïa

Béjaïa, Vgaiet or Bejaya is a Mediterranean port city on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province, Kabylia. Under French rule, it was formerly known under various European names, such as Budschaja in German, Bugia in Italian, and Bougie...

 in Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

 as well as Tunis

Tunis

Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....

 in Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

 and Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

 in Italy.

SNCM traces its history back to 1850.

2005 privatization

In September 2005, French Prime minister Dominique de Villepin

Dominique de Villepin

Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin is a French politician who served as the Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007....

 presented a project of privatization

Privatization

Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 of the company. Villepin was to hand out the SNCM to Butler Capital Partners

Butler Capital Partners

Butler Capital Partners is a European private equity focusing primarily on investments in France and Europe. The firm operates in a variety of business sectors including distribution, logistics, advertising, information technology, publishing and market research.The firm was founded in 1990 by...

 for 35 million euros, after a previous "recapitalisation" of 113 million euros (injection of new capital by the state). However, this project caused a public outcry, as it put into question the balancing out principle of public transport

Public transport

Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...

s (péréquation), meaning that to insure the continuity of the national territory and the equality

Egalitarianism

Egalitarianism is a trend of thought that favors equality of some sort among moral agents, whether persons or animals. Emphasis is placed upon the fact that equality contains the idea of equity of quality...

 of all concerning this important territorial continuity. In other words, the state-owned SNCM was to insure transport between the mainland and Corsica all year long, even though in exclusive market terms it may be considered as not profitable

Profit (accounting)

In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...

 enough, in order to insure the possibility for Corsicans to accede to administrative services as well as any other Frenchman. Moreover, Butler

Walter Butler (French businessman)

Walter Butler is a French/American businessman.After completing studies at the ENA, an elite school for high-level civil servants, Walter Butler served from 1983 to 1986 as an Inspector of Finances at the French Ministry of Finances. From 1986 to 1988, he was an advisor to the Minister of Culture...

 was Villepin's schoolmate and friend from l'ENA

École nationale d'administration

The École Nationale d'Administration , one of the most prestigious of French graduate schools , was created in 1945 by Charles de Gaulle to democratise access to the senior civil service. It is now entrusted with the selection and initial training of senior French officials...

, the elite public servants school.

Following hard negotiations and a strike by the CGT trade-union

Confédération générale du travail

The General Confederation of Labour is a national trade union center, the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.It is the largest in terms of votes , and second largest in terms of membership numbers.Its membership decreased to 650,000 members in 1995-96 The General...

 and the Syndicat des travailleurs corses ("Corsican workers' trade-union"), a new project was presented. Connex (which has since became Veolia Transport

Veolia Transport

Veolia Transport is the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia Environnement...

, a subsidiary of Veolia Environment group) would take 28% of the SNCM (against 38% for Butler in the previous arrangement); the state was to keep 25% of the shares, and 9% sold to the employees. 400 layoff

Layoff

Layoff , also called redundancy in the UK, is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or a group of employees for business reasons, such as when certain positions are no longer necessary or when a business slow-down occurs...

s were planned; in addition of the 113 million euros reinjected by the state before the privatization, 35 million euros were to be given to finance the layoffs.

The company is actually privatized since May 31, 2006.

Fleet

• MS Corse
• MS Danielle Casanova
• MS Ile de Beauté
• MS Jean Nicoli
• MS Mediterranée
• MS Monte Cinto
• MS Monte D'oro
• MS Napoléon Bonaparte
• HSC NGV Liamone
• MS Paglia Orba
• MS Pascal Paoli
  MS Pascal Paoli
  The Pascal Paoli is a RoPax ferry owned and operated by SNCM. She was the last ship built by the Van der Giessen de Noord yard.-Routes:The Pascal Paoli operates between Marseilles and Bastia on the island of Corsica. The 220 nautical mile overnight trip takes 12 hours....
  
  

External links

• Homepage of SNCM
• CGTM/SNCM at Fakta om Fartyg