The two main ports of the Mediterranean island of Corsica remained paralyzed Thursday in a continuing union protest over the French government's plan to privatize the state- owned shipping company SNCM, DPA reported. The protestors in the ports of Bastia and Ajaccio are also demanding that authorities release four sailors detained for their part in hijacking an SNCM cargo ferry Tuesday in Marseille and sailing it to Bastia. Another 30 strikers, all members of the Corsican nationalist STC union who were also aboard the cargo ferry Pascal Paoli during the takeover, were released after questioning. The Pascal Paoli was re-taken early Wednesday in a daring assault by more than 50 French army commandos who rappelled onto the ship from five helicopters. The strike was a reaction to the government's announcement that it had decided to sell all of its SNCM shares to the French investment fund Butler Capital Partners for 35 million euros (42.5 million dollars). Butler has said that it plans to lay off 400 of the company's 2,400 employees. On Thursday, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin offered a new proposal on the troubled shipping company, which lost 29.7 million euros on turnover of 193.6 million euros in 2004. The plan calls for Butler to take over 40 per cent of SNCM's capital, with another 30 per cent going to the transport company Veolia Connex, the state retaining 25 per cent of the company's shares and SNCM employees receiving the remaining 5 per cent. "I want to save the company," Villepin said during a Paris press conference. "It is my responsibility to find a final solution to this dramatic situation."
