Ferry services, which will carry large commercial vehicles like trucks, will begin from Cesme port of Turkish western province of Izmir to Chios island of Greece on May 26th.

- 21 / 05 / 2008 08:19

Ferry services, which will carry large commercial vehicles like trucks, will begin from Cesme port of Turkish western province of Izmir to Chios island of Greece on May 26th.

The ferry services are expected to boost commercial relations between Turkey and Greece.

Metin Akdurak from Ege Birlik Transportation Corp. (which will held the ferry services with the ship "Chios") said that the trade volume between Turkey and Greece, which was 300 million USD ten years ago, increased to three billion USD today.

Akdurak said that a round-trip between Izmir and Athens was approximately 2,600 kilometers, adding that the ferry services would decrease this distance significantly.

He said that ferry services from Cesme generally carried small vehicles, but not large ones like trucks, adding that now they would be able to carry large vehicles with the new ferry services.

Akdurak said that transportation between Izmir and Athens could be completed at most in three days.

The ferry "Chios" can carry 190 passengers, six trucks and 10-20 small vehicles, or 40-50 small vehicles without trucks.

The services will start at 6:00 p.m. on May 26th.