The white haulier turns red – and green 22


Pharmaceutical manufacturing is now big business on Malta and it’s equally important to the island’s logistics industry. Attrans, one of Malta’s biggest road transport operators, is investing in a fleet of 17 Dutch-built refrigerated trailers, double-deck and built to the latest ‘green’ standards, says sales manager, Kevin Filletti. Attrans’ familiar white colour


scheme will shortly give way to an all-red livery (with white lettering). It’s part of a corporate rebranding that will also include a new website. Meanwhile,


the new fridge trainers “will demonstrate our


environmental credentials to our clients,” says Filletti. “They will be fully satellite-controlled, with temperature sensors and they will also be capable of multi- temperature operation, from frozen, to chilled – or ambient.” The new fleet will service the


island’s pharma manufacturers, but Attrans will also target inbound food flows, giving a balanced two-way traffic – something oſten sought aſter but not always achieved by freight operators into small islands. Crowded Malta imports most


of the food it consumes. Large amounts of fruit and veg come from the growing regions of Holland, along with live plants.


Attrans has long catered for the market and already operates a large fleet of existing temperature- controlled


trailers; the new


additions will increase total size of the temperature-controlled fleet to about 45-50 trailers. “We are also planning to


increase our refrigerated depot network,” Filletti continues. “At the moment, we have one in Holland, but we would like to expand into the UK, France, Germany and Spain. This will be in collaboration with our partners, who will also do collections and deliveries for us.”


Attrans would consider


setting up its own temperature- controlled facility in Malta too, but there is no immediate requirement to do so. “At some stage in the future, we might have a warehouse, but it would probably be for cross-docking, not for storage,” Filletti explains. Attrans’ investment comes on


the back of a major expansion of Malta’s pharma manufacturing industry. Aurobindo is expanding its laboratory and research and development facilities and will, it is said, be the largest facility of its kind in Europe, and there will be a proportionate increase in pharma exports out of Malta. As with general freight, the trend in temperature controlled


freight is all towards groupage and part loads, says Filletti. “In the 1980s, companies would have imported full trailerloads and had thousands of Euros worth of stock here at any one time, but the trend now is much more towards just in time delivery.”


North Africa


There is another part of Attrans’ business – North Africa. It operates direct services from mainland Europe to this region, coordinated by its office in Breda. Currently, the main countries served are Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Libya used to be an important market, but this is currently a no go area for most freight operators until the current civil strife dies down. “We have just heard that the two sides in Libya are talking again and that there may be an agreement,” Filletti says. “We hope so, because it is a market that has big potential.” But currently, virtually all the


trailer operators have suspended operations in Libya, although the container shipping lines are still operating, via Malta. Abnormal load transport another Attrans speciality,


is


much of it related to the oil and gas industry – it has about 50 low loader trailers in its fleet.


some competition wouldn’t go amiss, he argues. “Perhaps a ro ro service into the Freeport might be possible? In some respects it would be better, as its closer to the Hal Far bonded area.” He is also in favour of Malta


“Malta being where it is, there


is big potential and we handle large loads to places like Italy and Scotland.” News that the former Marsa shipyard is to be transformed into an oil and gas hub can only boost the sector further, Filletti considers. Meanwhile, the general trailer


business to Malta continues, particular from Italy, the UK and the Netherlands, though again Filletti notes a trend away from full loads to groupage


and part loads. An island with a


maximum population of


around half a million (including tourists and expats) will always have its natural limits, while the frequency of freight ferry links impose their own limitations. Ferry and associated costs are


also quite high, Filletti adds. “For instance, port charges are double what they are in Spain.” While Grimaldi’s Motorways of the Sea does provide a good service, considering the size of the market,


customers allowing forwarders to set up their own bonded areas; there are currently very few bonded areas on Malta outside the ports and Hal Far, all of which have limitations and associated high costs. Filletti adds: “As far as we know, Malta is the only country in the EU where you need a customs escort to transport goods from outside a port; in other countries, it would be taken care of by a transit procedure.” All this adds cost, and it is


inhibiting Malta’s development as a true transhipment hub, he says. “The Government needs to invest more and allow operators to invest in this type of service. Otherwise


the imbalance of


trade will always be there; a large percentage of trailers still leave Malta empty.”


Parnis-England has Germany covered


Malta trailer operator Parnis- England is continuing to expand its groupage services into Europe, says owner Stephen Parnis-


England. “We recently added a new loop into North Germany, having already opened up a service to south Germany,” he told FBJ. The new service is actually


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and new UK partner Knights of Old, Parnis England now has four main European hubs. Not many Maltese hauliers cover such a wide area of European with their own assets, points out Stephen Parnis-England, who adds: “Business is pretty good in both directions. Malta does produce a lot of pharmaceuticals and electronics, so exports are pretty strong.” One slight concern is the


strength of Sterling, which could reduce Maltese purchases from the UK. “The UK and the rest of Europe are at different stages of the economic cycle. In the UK,


quantitative easing is coming to and end, in the rest of Europe it’s just starting,” says Stephen Parnis England. That said, it is likely that many


buyers would turn instead to Eurozone countries, so Parnis England could well continue to handle the business from a different country. And there is in any case a strong loyalty to UK suppliers. For the moment, with the main


markets covered, the network of services will probably stay as they are. France might be one possibility for the future, but in some respects it is a difficult country to cover and volumes to and from Malta are not huge. Parnis England also has a liner


agency arm. One of the operators it represents is intra-Med container and conventional line Brointermed, on its Italy/Malta/ Libya legs. “Despite the situation in Libya, we are still finding a certain amount of traffic,” says Stephen Parnis England, “though obviously levels are not what they were.” Ports in Libya are frequently


switched to avoid unrest and fighting and there are oſten port delays, but somehow the service keeps running.


Issue 4 2015 - Freight Business Journal


///MALTA


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