This, said the ministry, was being done for a number of reasons:

To attract more work;

To make use of Malta’s strategic position;

To allow port workers access to better and more efficient systems;

To reduce prices to attract more contracts;

To eradicate outdated work practices;

To reduce costs for the industrial sector;

To safeguard the jobs of thousands of employees in various sectors;

And ultimately to give better benefits to Maltese and Gozitan families.

The ministry said that all the organisations working in the ports sector needed to work together to increase efficiency and competitiveness in order to be on a par or better than other Mediterranean ports.

The GWU, said the ministry, was simply trying to put words into other people’s mouths and create and stimulate undue sympathy.

The ministry added that it had officially announced it would issue a call for tenders and that it had refused, in the name of safeguarding commercial viability of the ports, to extend the GWU company’s contract or to grant the right of first refusal.

The ministry also expressed astonishment at the fact that the GWU said there were no problems in the running of the company, when everyone else in the shipping and ports industry knew otherwise.

“A survey conducted by the MMA established that 89 per cent of those who use the port felt that Cargo Handling services were imposed on them because it was operating as a monopoly,” a spokesman said.

The ministry reiterated that, in its opinion, Cargo Handling Ltd took 30 per cent of all payment for 40-foot containers. A percentage breakdown of payments was issued by the ministry for cargo hauling and handling showed as follows: Cargo Handling Ltd 30 per cent; Pension and Contingency Fund 18 per cent; hauliers 13 per cent; port workers 13 per cent; agents 11 per cent; MMA five per cent; private contractor five per cent; Customs two per cent; foreman two per cent and tally clerks one per cent.

The ministry ended its statement by saying that its aim was to restructure the whole port sector and not to single out any one

company.