MALTA\\\


Good growth for second ro ro carrier


Two regular ro ro operators are slugging it out on the routes from Malta to Italy but business has grown to such an extent that one of them – Tirrenia – is considering increasing the number of sailings. Edward Houlton, shipping and logistics manager at SMS, Tirrenia’s agent on Malta, says that sailings are currently operating pretty full and that the operator has gained a 45% market share since starting up in competition to Grimaldi a couple of years ago.


Currently the Pauline Russ


offers a capacity of around 120 trailers and operates between Genova and Malta (Valletta) on Mondays and between Catania on Sicily and Malta on Thursdays and Saturdays. Houlton adds that Tirrenia had


operated four sailings a week but had reduced this to three in the face of a downturn in business - but now traffic has recovered to such an extent that both more sailings and a bigger vessel are viable propositions. He says: “We are fully booked


at the moment and the owner has a new, bigger ship that we hope they will deploy on the Malta route.” The vessel in question, the Maria Grazia Onorato has roughly double the capacity of the existing one and is expected to make its maiden call in Valletta on about 19 May, after which Houlton hopes it will become a permanent caller. The 209m length of the ship should present Valletta’s Grand Harbour with few problems as much larger already call.


cruise ships If current trends continue,


there is no reason why ro ro freight to Malta should not increase by 50% in a few years’ time. Trailer operators used to grumble at the lack of choice, so competition is healthy. Like all Maltese agents SMS


has several strings to its bow – indeed, the parent company is involved in such diverse areas as passenger travel, insurance and even a language school – and it is also the agent for a container operation, Messina Lines which has reintroduced a Malta call and is currently operating every three weeks on a rotation that includes Naples, Genova, La Spezia, Malta, Tripoli and Misurata in Libya, Alexandria and back to Naples. The service has developed well since it was introduced in


Issue 4 2019 - Freight Business Journal


March and is proving popular with shippers of material such as building materials or bathroom accessories who can afford to wait a little while for their shipments to be delivered. SMS used to be agents for the


K Line container service before it was absorbed into the ONE consortium, though it was only ever an ‘offline’ carrier for Malta, but


it still represents K Line’s


car-carrying ro ro services, along with similar services by


Hyundai Glovis and Neptune. Greek family-owned Neptune has in fact been calling at Valletta for many years with approximately


29 Maltese nationals are


particularly scarce, as there are plenty of more lucrative career


paths 3,800-unit


vessels from loading ports including Borusan in Turkey, Piraeus, Odessa in Ukraine and Barcelona. The one downside of all


this growth is the difficulty in recruiting additional staff at SMS, which it will have to do soon, says Houlton.


Air Malta looks to become a high-fl yer


Aſt er the diffi cult years of the EU-imposed restructuring, Air Malta has regained a level fl ight pattern – and indeed its airfreight carryings are climbing rapidly again, says head of cargo sales and marketing, John Vella. The fl ag carrier has already added 21 new routes in the past year and is once again increasing its fl eet, the plan being to eventually


standardise on ten A320neo over the next fi ve years. Four new destinations are due


to be added to the route network this year, including Tblisi and Cairo which should be strong cargo markets. Two A320neos are due to


join the fl eet in July and August, which will allow one A319 to be withdrawn while the other will


than shipping


on the island and he reckons that, for every two Maltese that apply, there will be 20 or so nationals of other EU countries or third countries. The need for work permits makes it difficult to employ the latter and all incomers struggle to find affordable and acceptable accommodation on Malta.


be available as a standby aircraſt . At that point the fl eet will consist of three A320neos and seven of the older A320ceos. A more modern fl eet will


cut fuel burn by 17% while the newer planes’ lower noise footprint will help increase the scope of operations in Europe’s increasingly restricted airspace, points out head of cargo product, Eric Camilleri. The A320neo’s cargo capacity is similar to the A320ceo’s but both types off er an approximately


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