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26


MALTA FEATURE


The Grimaldi Group has delivered on its promise to provide new tonnage for the Malta Motorways of the Sea (MMOS) service that provides the vital ro ro link between Malta, Italy, Europe and the rest of the world. “We have honoured the public service contract that we signed with the government of Malta to guarantee maritime links,” explains MMOS general manager Joe Bugeja.


Maintaining viable and frequent links with the outside


world has always been a priority for the Maltese Government. Like most islands, it has to import a large percentage of its needs, including basics like food and raw materials. Before Grimaldi signed its five-year contract under a public tender process, the government maintained its own shipping service under the Sea Malta banner – one of the last nationalised shipping companies in western Europe. The two new vessels - the Eurocargo Genoa and the Eurocargo Malta - are the biggest of their kind in the Mediterranean offering 230 trailer capacity. The ships are also certified to carry dangerous goods on their open decks. The new vessels have fixed


ramps, rather mechanical than elevators,


to minimise the likelihood of


problems and


virtually all pillars have been eliminated from the cargo deck. A small island like Malta could not fill all this space on its own – the vessels also call in Sicily on the way to Italy and this domestic trade helps to keep the ships full, while offering a much more frequent service to Malta than could otherwise be justified.


A third vessel, the Euroferry


Malta was due to be replaced at the end of May by the MV Catania, a passenger ro ro ferry, which will allow the Grimaldi Group to


reactivate


the passenger services to/from Civitavecchia (near Rome) and


Catania and also increase space for driver-accompanied traffic, says Joe Bugeja. Altogether,


Malta enjoys


three sailings a week to and from Genoa, two to Livorno, two to Civitavecchia and a total of four to Catania on Sicily. The story does not end in


Italy, however - Grimaldi offers connections all over Europe and Scandinavia via Italy. Grimaldi also offers another link from Malta, to North Africa. At the time of writing, the Tripoli call on this route has been suspended, although this service is still operating to Rades in Tunisia. At the outbreak of the Libyan unrest, one of the vessels on this service, the Setubal Express was prevented from entering Libyan waters after being stopped by the Royal Navy’s HMS Liverpool


while en route from Valletta to Tripoli. NATO claimed that some of its cargo, including vehicles was designated to be of ‘dual use’ – that is being of possible use to the Libyan military – even though it had already


been vetted by the


authorities. Dual use is quite a grey area, but apparently, the NATO people took exception to the fact that the cargo included some tracked vehicles. There were also reportedly some “irregularities” in the descriptions given in the cargo manifest.


The Setubal Express sat off Malta for several days but eventually took the Libyan cargo back to Salerno.


While Grimaldi is very keen


to recommence the Libyan calls, there is no telling when that will be, says Joe Bugeja. “We


ISSUE 3 2011 Grimaldi Group makes good its promises


are very keen to restart since the transhipment traffic was important additional revenue, but given recent experiences we feel that it would be prudent to wait until we are 100% sure.” When peace does return to Libya, there will no doubt be a massive influx of aid and rebuilding material, but no one is going to predict when that will happen.


Meanwhile, Grimaldi is also a keen supporter of the Maltese maritime industry. The Grimaldi Award goes to the three best students, it has invested €100,000 in a new simulator and it offers cadets time at sea on its own vessels on its ships. It is also a frequent user of the newly privatised shipyards on Malta, putting five vessels in for maintenance in the last year alone.


Sullivan Shipping goes on the diversification trail


Business is bustling in the port of Valleta thanks to operators like Grimaldi


Sullivan Shipping is diversifying into other markets, particularly logistics, while maintaining its strong presence in the deepsea liner trade through its agency for Korea’s Hanjin. It already represents a number of short- sea operators including Express Feeders’ thrice-weekly services in the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Sicily and south of Italy, in addition to Hanjin’s own intra- European and intra-Med services. Now, the company is also developing its forwarding interests, explains marketing,


CONTAINER SERVICE TO


sales and operations director, Chris Sullivan. “We are looking to partners in other markets and, for example, have opened up our Medlog joint venture with an Italian partner.” Initially, the idea was to develop the Libyan market but that has had to be put on hold for obvious reasons and Medlog is instead looking to develop Egypt, Austria and others. “We are also looking to diversify into other areas, such as airfreight,” adds Mr Sullivan. “we have a very young and


MALTA


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dynamic team here – our average age is about 30 – and we need to develop new areas if we are to grow.”


That said, the Hanjin business is still vitally important to Sullivan and business has been developing nicely since Sullivan Shipping took on the agency in June 2008. Trade to Malta is still growing, particularly groupage. The company also took over its bond at Hal-Far this year and is in the process of obtaining Authorised Economic Operator status.


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