The Audit Office is calling for a fundamental overhaul of the Deputy Ministry of Shipping’s policy on the Cyprus–Greece ferry link, after a special report published Thursday found that state subsidies are actively discouraging the operator from filling its ship — and that the booking system is concealing available seats from the public.
Scandro Holding Ltd, which holds the contract and operates 22 return voyages between Cyprus and Greece each summer, receives a guaranteed annual payment of €5.47 million plus 6% of ticket sales regardless of how many passengers it carries. The Audit Office found that this structure creates a perverse incentive: the lower the occupancy, the lower the company’s operating costs — while compensation remains guaranteed.
The figures bear this out. Despite tickets sometimes selling out the moment the booking platform opens, average occupancy on the route between 2022 and 2025 was just 49%. The ship carries a maximum of 350 passengers. Over the four years, it could have carried up to 61,600 passengers; it actually carried 30,459.
Auditor General Andreas Papakonstantinou highlighted cases where the booking system showed no tickets available, yet the ship sailed at only 69% occupancy. The pattern was even starker for vehicles: on audited voyages where the system showed zero availability, the ship carried an average of 64 vehicles per voyage — meaning actual availability stood at between 75% and 89%.
The booking system itself came in for sharp criticism. Its weaknesses allow a traveller to book a four-berth cabin alone at a lower price than a single cabin.
There is also no cancellation charge or penalty of any kind, enabling passengers to hold reservations and cancel at the last minute — leaving seats that cannot then be filled. Ticket prices, meanwhile, remain flat across the season: the same in May as in August, with no dynamic pricing to reflect demand.
The Auditor General said the subsidy scheme should continue but called for an immediate reassessment of the incentive and compensation structure, noting that the subsidy rate currently stands at close to 93% and could be reduced.
The state paid Scandro a total of €20.4 million between 2022 and 2025: €5,208,952 in 2022; €5,211,755 in 2023; €4,847,054 in 2024; and €5,171,317 in 2025.