ATHENS – With inflation at a 28-year high in Greece and driving up the cost of fuel, ferry companies for the second time raised the price of tickets that were already high enough to keep many Greeks from being able to get to islands.

The ticket prices rose 5-10 percent after a 10-12 percent increase in April, raising the cost per passenger by as much as 22 percent in two months, prohibitive for many families who won’t be able to vacation in Greece.

Unnamed shipping industry officials told the state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency AMNA the ferry companies costs have risen 70 percent and that the price of some fuel is now $1,246 a ton compared to $480 in 2021.

That means that a ship that uses Very Low Sulfur Oil on vessels without scrubbers will have to pay 41,250 euros ($43,41) for fuel alone on each route, from 15,840 euros ($16,671) in 2021, the executives said.

“We had said that 2022 would be the first year when we would return to normalcy, but then came the Russia-Ukrainian war, which has catapulted the energy costs of ships in the past few months,” a shipping market official told AMNA.