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The Company: Presentation & history
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Caronte & Tourist S.p.A. has been running a private ferry service across the Messina's Straights for forty years. The competition between Caronte S.p.A. and Tourist Ferry Boat S.p.A. began on 19th June 1965, on the day Caronte's Marina di Scilla sailed on her maiden voyage across the Straights of Messina, connecting the ports of Messina and Reggio Calabria as an alternative to the Railway service.
In 1968, Tourist Ferry Boat opened its new Messina -Villa San Giovanni route. This new route represented an improvement to the service, as it allowed a faster and more efficient crossing, due to the shorter distance and crossing time. Over the years, with the development of road transport as an alternative to the railways, and also thanks to the increased efficiency of the crossing, commercial traffic to and from Sicily gradually increased, and soon, all transport shifted to the new route, and the Messina-Reggio Calabria run was abandoned.
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Encouraged by their success, the company first launched their RO-RO (Roll on – Roll off) craft, with double ports, and then built new vessels with a different propulsion system, named Voith-Schneider, which was adopted after an in-depth study taking into account the strong currents in the Straights. The new ships are not only faster but are highly manoeuvrable, guaranteeing top-level safety standards along the route. In the years to come, the private fleet was to be further enriched with craft of this type.
In August 1999, the company took another step forward with the introduction of the “Vestfold”. This is a ship of the latest generation, with double decks, greater carrying power, and higher speeds than the previous models, able to carry 150 cars and 25 articulated vehicles.
In October 2001, as part of a diversification plan, but above all to meet increasing demand and the requirements of the new laws limiting the time commercial pilots can stay at the wheel, and after a study on the future increase in traffic along the North/South route, which had by now become saturated, and in order to bypass the Salerno – Reggio Calabria motorway eternally subject to modernisation works, Caronte and Tourist Ferry Boat launched a pioneering project, "Autostrada del Mare" (Motorway of the Sea), connecting the port of Messina with Salerno.
October 7th, 2001 saw the launch of the first run of the new high-speed “Cartour” connecting Messina and Salerno in around seven and half hours. The Messina – Salerno line currently offers 3 departures daily on the Cartour’s sister ships, the “Cartour Beta" and the "Cartour Gamma”, at a speed of 25 knots, able to carry 800 cars or 150 commercial vehicles, and up to 1,000 passengers. They have cabins, armchairs, a bar and restaurant, a play area for children, and shops on board.
On 1st July 2003, Caronte and Tourist Ferry Boat remodelled their businesses, putting their vessels at the disposal of the newly founded Caronte & Tourist S.p.A., so merging the two companies.
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