The financial results for last year published by Gozo Channel Company Limited show that the company has continued to build on the success it achieved a year earlier, leading chairman Joseph Borg to describe 2006 as the “best year” of operations. The company has every right to be proud of its achievements, earned following a series of administrative adjustments that have literally turned the tide in the company’s favour in the past two years.

From registering a deficit of nearly Lm1 million in the financial year 2003 – Lm988,554, following the other disastrous year, 2002, when the deficit had reached Lm852,616 – the company took a number of initiatives that helped curb costs and raise revenue, and the positive results can now be seen.

In 2004, the deficit was reduced to a mere Lm10,046, which was already an indication that the company had managed to introduce better control, but the corner was turned in 2005 when a profit of Lm273,150 was registered, followed by the Lm282,000 profit recorded in 2006.

Investment, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt said that the results were “not a commercial profit”, but made it a point to emphasise the company’s social dimension, without which the company’s profits would have been much higher.

The results were shot down by the Malta Labour Party spokesman on Gozo, Anton Refalo, who in a letter to this newspaper said the “positive” outcome had been achieved only because the government had signed a “public service contract for a subsidy of Lm1.6 million yearly”, adding that without this subsidy the company would still be making losses.

The minister replied, in an article published in The Malta Independent last Saturday, saying the government believes it is “its duty to compensate for the natural disadvantage of living on the smaller island”. It does so though a public service grant rather than covering for losses of a technically bankrupt company, thereby ensuring that only the real social obligations are paid for.

The company – and the government, for that matter – were heavily criticised by the opposition and other quarters when it revised its tariffs a few years back. It had then been said that Gozo’s economy would suffer because fewer people would cross over to the sister island.

Yet the figures published show that the number of vehicles and passengers that made the trip between the two islands increased by 5.3 per cent and 2.78 per cent respectively in 2006, for a total of 937,138 vehicles and 3,554,714 passengers. The number of trips has also increased by 2.2 per cent.

The company’s good results carry more significance considering that the cost for fuel increased by 18 per cent between 2005 and 2006, while the charter fee and quay rent also shot up by 25 per cent. In contrast, the administration costs were reduced by 8.7 per cent.

What is also significant is that several initiatives that were introduced by Gozo Channel over the past year or two have been widely accepted and used by patrons. In particular, the company’s exercise to attract more passengers and cars during the so-called shoulder and winter months was successful.

Gozo Channel Company has a crucial role to play in the sister island’s economy, because as things stand at present it is the sole provider of organised transport services between Malta and Gozo. It was therefore a good idea that the company teamed up with business enterprises in Gozo to offer incentives encouraging more people to cross over, even just for dinner.

Equally important is the company’s flexibility, in the sense that it is always ready to increase its services each time there is a clear indication that more people are interested in visiting Gozo. The Carnival weekend has, for example, become as popular as the Santa Marija week in August, and the company does well in taking the cue when these and similar events are going to take place. Schemes such as the one called Immorru Ghawdex (Let’s go to Gozo) should be repeated and perhaps enhanced to be able to continue encouraging people to visit Gozo.

Let us also not forget that the company has had to work in difficult circumstances over the past years because of delays in the completion of the Mgarr and Cirkewwa terminals.

All this proves that Gozo Channel Company is back on track after a period of difficulty. What is vital now is that the company does not rest on its laurels but continues to work harder to provide even more efficient services.