The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise’s Shipping and Bunkering Trade Section said that it once again had to resort to public statements to denounce the malpractices at the Grand Harbour, which it said are creating great inconvenience that negatively affects the cruise liner operations at Valletta.

The section said that the situation is, that besides having a second pilot boat out of order for a long number of months, on Thursday evening, the second pilot boat experienced some engine problems with the consequence that early yesterday morning two passenger ships, namely Costa Concordia and Jules Verne had to proceed to the off-Marsaxlokk pilot station in order to embark the pilots.

This caused a loss of about one hour, extra consumption of bunkers and other additional costs. During the course of the morning, it was reported that the second pilot boat had been repaired and that traffic was proceeding normally once again. This meant that two other passenger ships had the opportunity to enter Valletta without experiencing any delays, the section said.

The Shipping and Bunkering Trade Section insists that this created great inconveniences together with delays both in the ships’ berthing and for passengers going on shore excursions. In addition, changes in ships’ itinerary have to be made.

All passengers on board passenger ships should be advised of any delays, deviations and other events. Yesterday morning, passengers were notified that since a pilot boat was not available in Valletta, the vessels were proceeding to Marsaxlokk in order to embark the pilots.

The Shipping and Bunkering Trade Section said it was very disappointed about the fact that the authorities are not taking into consideration any precautionary measures in order to avoid similar incidents.

Now that Malta is experiencing an increase in the number of passenger ships calling at the Valletta harbour, the authorities concerned should be prudent to ensure that there will not be a repetition of the events experienced last year.

Concluding, the Shipping and Bunkering Trade Section of the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise said that it hopes that there will be a quick solution to the mentioned negligent act.