26


Issue 4 2019 - Freight Business Journal


///MALTA


There’s no stopping these Maltese Politicians in much larger countries must be wondering how to scale up Malta’s economic performance. It may be the EU’s smallest nations, but it is one of the most dynamic.


Malta growth remains grounded


Malta’s economy may be booming, but that isn’t being refl ected in the island’s airfreight fi gures. Import airfreight into the island in the fi rst three months of 2019 were pretty much the same as for the same period last year but


exports –


excluding one-off freighter charters –were down by around 16%, or about 200 tonnes on the fi rst quarter of 2018. Ray Buttigieg, of local agent BAS


Malta believes that there are two factors at work here. One is the reintroduction of surcharges by the airlines, which has added around 60-80 cents per kilo to charges, and the second – which may be partly


related to the fi rst – is a falling-off in pharma exports by air. This has probably been prompted by better road trailer and even seafreight services, which have creamed off some of the pharma that used to go by air. The pharma industry on Malta has also been contracting slightly, with one factory recently closing down aſt er a merger in the industry. Fish, once the other major


traffi c is a shadow of its former self. Volumes have been hit by quotas and much of what is still caught in Maltese waters is oſt en scooped up by factory ships that discharge in distant ports.


Emirates, which carries a


substantial proportion of the pharma, being virtually the only carrier on the island that can carry large temperature-controlled containers, was particularly hard- hit by the fall; in fact the fall in the carrier’s own fi gures almost precisely mirrors that of the market as a whole. Other carriers’ carryings have been more-or-less stable during the fi rst quarter. Other big carriers on Malta


include the express integrators DHL and FedEx/TNT, both of which operate their own freighter aircraſt , space on which is also available to other parties, although


they are not really geared up to carry temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals.


Luſt hansa


and, now, Turkish Airlines off er substantial bellyhold capacity, the latter via the new Istanbul airport. Alitalia, represented by general sales agent XPH, also has bellyhold space to various Italian hubs including Rome Fiumicino. A potentially signifi cant


newcomer to Malta is Qatar Airways, due to start four-times- a-week narrow body A320/321 fl ights to its Doha hub in June. Each fl ight is expected to have around 1½ tonnes cargo capacity – modest perhaps, but then Emirates started


Rabelink could be on to a winner


Two of Malta’s biggest industries these days are financial services and online gaming and financial services – neither of which, at first sight, would seem to generate much business for freight forwarders. However, Rabelink owner Julian Naudi thinks he may have found a way. As well as doling out cash


(occasionally), the gaming companies also send their winners tangible prizes, such as pens or hats. And at the


moment they tend to stockpile these goods elsewhere in Europe, such as the UK. However, keeping them in Malta and sending them out via the island’s frequent courier services to individual recipients, can be more cost- effective, Naudi considers. “Storage in Malta is actually


cheaper than in the UK, it’s reasonably easy to find and it’s well organised, with IT systems in place,” he says. It would also eliminate


the situation


whereby the goods are first shipped from the UK and then couriered out to recipients. The other way in which


gaming and finance generates forwarding business are the movement of personnel effects for staff. Not every general forwarder is keen on this sector, but it is another service that Rabelink is happy to provide. The secret is to find a good packing partner, says Naudi. Otherwise, Rabelink is still doing brisk business on


its groupage services from Europe. These operate from Spain, Italy, France and East Europe, along with the UK. For the latter, Rabelink used to favour container shipping services but with basic transit times of two weeks – but which can stretch to three weeks if a vessel is missed or one skips a call – it is increasingly turning to road. “What I try to do is to keep the cost by road as low and as close to the seafreight rate as possible,” Naudi explains.


in Malta from similarly small beginnings and grew to become the pre-eminent cargo carrier on the island. Qatar is represented by Aviation360. The


other major pack coolboxes. Drivers also


receive regular ADR dangerous goods training, and also in forkliſt operation. Training of this type addresses


airfreight


activity on Malta are whole freighter charters by De La Rue and Crane Currency, who manufacture banknotes, passports and similar sensitive items. Meanwhile, BAS Malta and Ray


Buttigieg’s eff orts on the airfreight training front continue. He held four aviation security courses last year and estimates that he has trained about 600 people, both in- company and external clients. BAS also recently hosted a


training course by Soſt base in how to use that company’s gel-


specifi c issues in the industry but there is also a need for more general training in the industry, says Buttigieg, who is also active in the Malta arm of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. At the moment, he says, the only logistics education available on Malta is at university level – there is no equivalent of the UK’s logistics or freight forwarding apprenticeships. “The industry has to teach people from scratch at the moment, so a course that would give people a basic grounding in the industry would be very useful,” he says.


Fast masters get bigger vessel


Malta-to-Sicily fast craſt operator Virtu Ferries has had its new vessel, the Saint John Paul II in service for


about two months


replacing, for the time being, the Jean de La Vallette. The new Incat- built catamaran off ers slightly more freight capacity than the former vessel (an extra 100 lane metres) and around 100 more foot passenger spaces but more importantly improved on-board


ambience, catering and customer experience, says Virtu managing director Henri Saliba. “The market has received the new vessel extremely well,” he adds. That


is important because


many of them – particularly on the freight side – are frequent travellers. Moreover, as Virtu carries exclusively accompanied freight, every freight unit is


28 >>


LOGISTIC ARM 3PL SOLUTIONS


GROW YOUR REACH OUT ON FREIGHT NEGOTIATIONS > TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT > WAREHOUSING www.sullivanshipping.com.mt


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40