GozoNews.Com

Gozo Channel Company Limited has said that it expresses dismay at remarks made by Mr Vince Farrugia of the GRTU, as reported here, regarding the Cargo Service offered by Gozo Channel Company Limited from Sa Maison. The full text of their statement is quoted below.

“It must be understood by all that this situation occurred at a time when the Company has one of its vessels, the Mv Malita, undergoing a refit at Malta Shipyards, leaving all ferry services to be provided by only two vessels. This puts a strain on the operations of the Company which has currently allocated Monday and Wednesday evenings for the Sa Maison cargo service. The service last Wednesday had to be cancelled due to bad weather.

This appears to have provoked Mr Farrugia’s complaint for which Gozo Channel Company Limited agreed to re-arrange its schedule on Thursday and provide an unscheduled trip to Sa Maison, to make up for the lost trip on Wednesday.

Attempts were made to inform Mr Farrugia of this decision well ahead of his press conference but for reasons known to him Mr Farrugia made himself unavailable. Moreover the Company also wishes to clarify a number of matters raised by the GRTU’s Director General on which he appears to be not accurately informed.

It is wrong to argue that Gozitan industry is in some way dependant on the haulage of cargo through the Sa Maison service when this service caters for only 15% of cargo traffic between the two islands. The rest of the traffic, 85% of the Gozo cargo, is transported by this company through our Mgarr/Cirkewwa service.

We certainly do understand that the cancellation of trips due to bad weather is an inconvenience to customers, commercial or private, who rely on our service to travel between the islands. However all our customers should be re-assured that under no condition will groundless criticism addressed to us, whatever its source, will ever provoke us to sail when it is not safe to do so.”

The Management 1st December 2007