32 sales agent


Issue 3 2012


///MALTA SMS Logistics offers all the options


SMS Logistics – the forwarding, airfreight and seafreight of the Maltese transport, shipping and tourism specialist SMS Group - has just been appointed cargo general


(GSA) for


Etihad in Malta. It’s a happy return to the GSA business, explains general manager Dion Said, who points out that SMS was GSA for GB Airways before the brand was bought by Easyjet. SMS – which historically


represented Exel Logistics and before that MSAS - also does a lot of business with chartered freighters, particularly in connection with the launch of pharmaceuticals by Maltese generic manufacturers in various European markets when they go off-patent. Some space is acquired through brokers such as ACS but Luſthansa’s charter division is the main supplier of space. “We need decent aircraſt with a good crew,” says Dion Said.


“It’s all temperature-sensitive and as there isn’t a specialist temperature-controlled facility for pharmaceuticals, we have to be careful that products aren’t leſt on the hot tarmac for hours in the summer heat.” Discussions have in fact been


going on between the Malta Airfreight Association and Malta Enterprise on building a facility, but, impressive though the output of the generic manufacturers


on Malta is,


pharmaceutical manufacturing can be quite a fickle industry and investors would need to be certain that the industry was here to stay in Malta before committing themselves. European legislation on pharma patents is evolving and Malta may not have all the advantages it currently possesses in a few years’ time. Likewise, it is proving hard to find companies willing to


invest in Malta Airport’s putative cargo village. “It is a good idea in principle but the sort of rents being asked for are just too expensive,” points out Dion Said. One idea that has been put


forward is an off-airport cargo area, perhaps near the Freeport or the Hal-Far bonded area, with bonded trucking between it and the airport. This would bring most of the advantages of an on- airport site – the distances would be very small – without the cost. “But it isn’t on any government agenda at the moment,” he says. Airfreight has been under


pressure from the efficient road operators for intra-European routes for some time. Capacity on the available planes is very restricted and costs are very high compared with trucking – oſten for time savings of little more than a couple of days or so – although the new freighter service during the week has


made a difference, Dion Said believes. SMS, as agents on Malta for


Hellmann, can plug into the ‘System-Plus’ network operated


by its partner in conjunction with a other operators including Siſte Berti in Italy. Extending System Plus direct into Malta “is on the agenda” but at the moment there


isn’t the traffic to justify it. In any case, the regular links provided by Maltese-based hauliers to the Continent effectively do the same job, he says.


Transpak brings island heritage to a worldwide audience


A little bit of Malta came to London’s self-styled ‘Top People’s Store’ recently, courtesy of Malta-based forwarder Transpak. Harrods’ ‘Treasures of Malta’ promotion month featured contemporary paintings by island artists, maritime artefacts like sextants, charts and trunks and even the prow of a wooden sailing ship. In shipping terms, it was a straightforward


relatively job,


other than the fact that Transpak’s UK agent Constantine had a very restricted weekend time-window in which to work in this very busy part of London. Transpak’s managing director, William Vella says he is now working on a Knights of Malta exhibition in Moscow in summer, which will involve flying artefacts from the national museum to Frankfurt and onward movement by road to the Russian capital. “Quite a few of the Knights were Russian, so there is a lot of interest there in the Order,” he explains. Personal effects are the other


mainstay of Transpak’s business. There’s no shortage of people moving in and out of Malta, but the removal market has become very cut-throat, says William Vella. “If you quote for 2,000 jobs, you might actually get ten,” he says. Even corporate clients are tending to be given fixed budgets


by their companies, and increasingly shop around for the best rate, though


without necessarily getting the service they expect, says Vella.


Gozo tunnel ‘could happen in five years’ says report


The Malta-Gozo Tunnel Report has concluded that a tunnel linking the two islands would cost between €156 million to €492 million for a single bore, three-lane bi-directional tunnel, on the shortest practical route and would take between five and seven years to build. Details of a pre-feasibility study by Mott Macdonal were given during a press conference by Ministers Austin Gatt,


Giovanna Debono and Chris Said on 26 April. Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and


Communication said however that there would now have to be a high level study.


Air Malta restarts to Benghazi


Air Malta is to restart a twice weekly service to Benghazi in eastern Libya on Tuesday and Thursday, from May 29, reports the Times of Malta. This is in addition to the daily service to Tripoli which resumed on 4 May. Outbound cargo capacity from Malta will be offered on to Tripoli and discussions will take place soon on inbound services.


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