Backed with oodles of EU money, an Italian shipping line is trialling a new Almería – Chivitasvecchia (Where? Somewhere near Rome) shipping line.
It’s part of the EU’s new Marco Polo scheme which aims to join different parts of the EU via maritime shipping links, instead of having everything moved around by lorry.
Ustica Lines will participate as the maritime carrier for the new SSS (Short Sea Shipping). In essence, instead of all the fruit and veg being driven to Italy, the idea is that farmers take it to Almería, it’s put on a big boat, and then collected from Chivitawhatever and taken to local supermarkets.
One ship a week will make the route, the idea being that it will carry mainly olive oil, which I presume the canny Italians will then repackage as “local” and ship to the UK to sell at vast profits.
When’s it starting? Too late for us I suppose!
How much olive oil are you carrying? They may be able to squeeze the Jag onto the back somewhere!