Brindisi Terminal Italia Spa yesterday officially stopped operations and all 100 employees’ positions were terminated with immediate effect.

In a statement, the DOI said that in 2004 the Malta Freeport Corporation decided that if no other company took up the offer to take over operations of the terminal by December 2005, it would be closed down.

The government guided the Freeport into deciding on a date after which it would stop trying to sell the terminal in Brindisi. On 18 March 2005, a number of interested companies were given a document containing information about the sale and two companies visited the terminal. However, the result was negative.

In October, other investors expressed interest, and this is being looked into by the Freeport Corporation.

The DOI said that by the middle of 2003, Malta Freeport exposures stood at E26.6 million as a result of the Brindisi Terminal. Government decided that over the past two years, these exposures would not be allowed to mount and eventually were reduced. The remaining balance will be paid by the Malta Freeport and not the sale of Pender Place and Mercury House, as claimed by Opposition Leader Alfred Sant, said the DOI.

The DOI said that the government’s decisions mitigated the damage caused by the bankruptcy of the investment initially made by a Labour government under the leadership of Alfred Sant.