The ferry connection of the port of Igoumenitsa with the island of Corfu, covering a distance of seventeen (17) nautical miles with a boat trip duration of one hour and twenty minutes, which is ranked as the fourth ferry line in Greece, based on traffic.

Decision, following the Statement of Objections under ref. no 10343/17.12.2021 of Commissioner-Rapporteur Ioannis Stefatos, according to article 25a of L. 3959/2011, on the ex-officio investigation in the ferry connection market of the port of Igoumenitsa with the island of Corfu for alleged infringement of article 1 of L. 3959/2011 following the Settlement submissions by: i) the Joint Venture of Corfu Ferries under the name “Kerkyra Lines” and ii) the Joint Venture Igoumenitsa – Kerkyra - Paxon under the name “Kerkyra Seaways”.

The Hellenic Competition Commission, in plenary, decided unanimously as follows:

A) Finds that the above joint ventures infringed article 1 of L. 3959/2011 by participating in a prohibited horizontal agreement through the practices admitted by them under the Settlement Procedure.

B) Orders the aforementioned undertakings to bring to an end the infringement established in the above grounds of the Decision of article 1 of Law 3959/2011, if they have not already done so, and to refrain therefrom in future.

C) Imposes a fine amounting to EUR 189,972.0 on the Joint Venture Corfu Ferries (Kerkyra Lines) and a fine amounting to EUR 134,892.0 on the Joint Venture Igoumenitsa – Kerkyra - Paxos (Kerkyra Seaways)

Ex-officio investigation

Company(ies) concerned

i) JOINT VENTURE CORFU FERRIES, and

ii) JOINT VENTURE IGOUMENITSA – KERKYRA - PAXOS

According to the grounds of the Decision, there was direct or indirect communication between the two competing companies regarding their future behavior at the ferry connection Igoumenitsa - Corfu – Igoumenitsa, ticket prices and itinerary declarations of the joint ventures. In this regard, “Kerkyra Lines” and “Kerkyra Seaways” participated in a joint ticket price-fixing and market sharing scheme (by allocating the number of routes between them), by also adopting a commonly agreed schedule for future ferry services, in the ferry connection market of Igoumenitsa – Kerkyra - Igoumenitsa. The cartel aimed at fixing prices at different levels from those that would have been set under conditions of free competition and allocating customers between them. This is an agreement between the joint ventures involved which seeks to restrict competition by object. With regard to the actual (or potential) impact on the market, it is considered that the restriction of competition by object found (price fixing and market sharing) has an impact on the market by its nature, however it concerns a market of limited geographical extent – namely, the Igoumenitsa - Corfu ferry connection.