Malta Maritime Authority chairman Marc Bonello speaks with David Lindsay about how the authority is viewing the recent Grand Harbour regeneration proposals as an opportunity to rationalise and organise the multi-faceted operations at Malta’s flagship port

The Malta Maritime Authority is looking to the government’s recently-published 20-point proposals for regenerating the Grand Harbour as an ideal opportunity to rationalise, organise and revamp operations in what was, and still is in many respects, Malta’s gateway to the world.

The Grand Harbour has for centuries been one of Malta’s crowning assets, but over the years the sheer variety and amount of intermingling operations at the harbour have become chaotic in a number of respects.

With the country’s cruise liner business having grown by 25 per cent last year and with roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) cargo business having grown by some 50 per cent, the MMA is looking to the redevelopment plan as a means of creating the facilities needed to accommodate these, and other, growing sectors.

“We cannot simply be content with what we have,” comments MMA chairman Marc Bonello. “Even though at the moment we are capable of handling the 50 percent increase in ro-ro business, if the operators want to continue growing and if we are not able to grow along with them, they might well decide to pull out to a different port and we would lose the business.”

In what is perhaps the single-largest business opportunity for the private sector on the books, the government’s proposals for the regeneration of the Grand Harbour also take the notion of public-private partnerships and cooperation to a new level.

The 20 projects proposed to circumnavigate the Grand Harbour – in sectors including maritime services, tourism, cultural heritage, and industry – represent a multimillion lira investment on the part of the private sector through public private partnerships or through the private sector taking on projects under their own steam.

“It is the private sector that we expect to really take the initiative. What we need now are visionaries who can see what we see and join us on our journey in seeing these projects through to their fruition.

“What we want at the end of the day is the regeneration of the Grand Harbour. The consultation period has now closed on Monday and the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation is now tasked with the implementation of the projects.

Since being set up in 1991, the MMA has slowly shed its previous role as an operator and has moved increasingly toward that of regulator and facilitator inciting the private sector to invest in Malta’s maritime infrastructure and services.

While the government’s 20-point plan resulted from a MIMCOL study on land usage and ownership around the Grand Harbour, the MMA itself had, on Malta’s EU accession, contracted the ECORYS consortium to develop an economic feasibility study for the upgrading of the port infrastructure and development for all of Malta’s ports.

The study had paid specific attention to the Grand Harbour, with the idea of increasing facilities to be able to handle greater volumes of cargo and sea passengers. Given the MMA’s wide remit, the study had covered roughly three-quarters of the Grand Harbour.

A number of the projects included in the 20-point plan published recently for consultation had also featured in the ECORYS report. As such, feasibility studies on a number of the projects have already been carried out, putting the MMA in a position to apply for EU funding.

Such projects include upgrading Marsa’s Deep Water Quay, currently in a poor state of repair, so as to be able to handle more cargo. Also studied was the creation of additional ro-ro quay space at Flagstone Wharf and in the Ras Hanzir area.

In parallel to the ECORYS study, Malta Investment Management Company Limited (MIMCOL) had been commissioned by the Cabinet Subcommittee on National Projects to come up with a holistic strategic plan for the Grand Harbour.

At present, most of the land around the Grand Harbour is owned by the former Lands Department, recently renamed the Government Property Division, and is leased out under a variety of contracts, concessions and the like. The Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation was established with the aim of giving the land in question a distinct focus.

The land in question would, through an act of parliament, eventually be vested in the corporation, which, in turn, would grant concessions to operators, to be licensed and regulated by the MMA.

The Grand Harbour, with its multitude of business concerns spanning a wide array of sectors, is a virtual melting pot of activities that sometimes encroach on each other.

Being a small port, conflicts arise and, Dr Bonello explains, the MMA’s role is to try to marry the conflicts and pressures that arise so that business can continue to thrive on a day-to-day basis.

In terms of the ever-growing cruise liner industry, the line of business, which is operated privately under Viset but regulated by the MMA, often comes into conflict with nearby cargo handling activities.

“There is a pressing need to increase cruise liner berths in the Grand Harbour,” Dr Bonello comments. “We have had as many as seven cruise liners calling in Malta on the same day. What happens is when we do not have space in the allocated area, we sometimes place them at the dedicated cargo handling facility, if they have the space.”

But the truth of the matter is that berthing across the harbour from Valletta has its drawbacks. Cruise liner tourists disembark in the middle of a cargo handling concession, a far cry from the purpose-built Valletta Waterfront, while travelling by coach to Valletta takes up precious time with many cruise liner tourists in Malta only for a handful of hours.

To accommodate the quickly-growing sector, a proposal has been tabled to develop two mega-berths for cruise liners at Barriera Wharf, and other berths at Boiler Wharf.

While the aesthetics of the wharfs would obviously be upgraded, the transport problem would be also be addressed before the additional berths are created, with the MMA currently in the process of awarding a licence for a short ferry operation running a scheduled service linking all parts of the Grand Harbour.

“The idea behind the plans for the new cruise liner berths, in the MMA’s view,” Dr Bonello comments, “is for the private sector to invest in this project. But whether the private sector could do it entirely on its own, or whether the project would comprise some form of public-private partnership is yet to be discussed and decided upon.

“There are different private partnership models but whatever the format, the idea is that the MMA would grant the operational licence and regulate the operator, while the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation would lease out the concession.”

Also envisaged for the Cottonera area, taking into account the ever-increasing superyacht business in the Mediterranean, the proposals also envisage both Dock 2 and Dock 3 being dedicated superyacht facilities. Although Dock 3 is already being used for the purpose, it is also being suggested the Dock 2 be geared toward the growing and lucrative business.

Cargo handling will, of course, remain an important aspect of the port. In 2006 the MMA allocated the Deep Water Quay concession as well as the Magazine and Laboratory Wharf on the Kordin side of the harbour for cargo handling operations. Another idea is to extend cargo handling in the area stretching from Fuel to Laboratory Wharf.

The project also anticipates a cutting back of the Kordin promontory so as to create space at quay level required for crane handling and container stacking.

Ro-ro business is also on a steep increase both in Malta and in the wider Mediterranean area. The Grimaldi Line, under the name of Malta Motorways of the Sea, has seen the number of trailers handled increasing by 50 per cent since operations began in July 2006 – and more business could be attracted to Malta if the facilities were available.

Among the other industries the MMA is looking to help grow through the reorganisation of the Grand Harbour are the ship repair operations carried out by Bezzina Ship Repair Yard and the Cassar Shipyard – both of which have attracted a fair amount of business over the years and which have also invested in docks.

As such, one of the MMA’s projects for the Church and Coal Wharf area, in the vicinity of the Malta Shipyards in Marsa, is to organise the berthing of ships in a better manner.

At present the tendency for operators is to berth vessels side by side instead of end-to-end – in the process significantly narrowing the channel and creating de facto wharfs – rather than renting out quay space elsewhere in the port from the MMA.

Some operators purchase vessels with the intention of repairing and selling them off. But the problem is that as many as six virtually decrepit vessels are lined up next to each other and encroaching into the navigation channel. Many times they remain laid up, in some cases for several years, until works are either carried out or they eventually sink.

“The situation in the area is chaotic,” Dr Bonello comments, “in that the navigation channel becomes blocked and this is simply not to be.

“It is in our interest to organise this area better, which would also induce operators to attract more business to the area, which is at present a not much more than a stagnant area for laid up vessels.

“Through the exercise, we would also like to provide the operators with the possibility of having landside facilities. They would have to invest in such facilities themselves, but we could help them find the best uses for the quays and provide them with more space if so required.

“The idea is to make as efficient use of our quays as possible. To give the quays to someone only to find out they are under-utilised while there are others out there crying out for space because they have a project in mind is simply not on.”

Another outstanding problem is the number of sunken vessels along Bridge Wharf near the Marsa power station, but current legislation presents cumbersome obstacles to the MMA’s efforts in having them removed.

Such hurdles include lengthy court proceedings involving the problematic identification of a sunken vessel’s owners or creditors. The sunken vessels are sometimes registered under a company rather than an individual and problems arise in identifying company ownership.

“We need to strengthen our legislation to allow us to remove sunken vessels if and when required,” Dr Bonello underscores. “We do not want to find ourselves in a position in which projects are held back because of cases that have been before the courts for several years.”

The MMA is viewing the 20-point plan as a holistic vision rather than on a piecemeal project-by-project basis. The MMA will participate hand-in-hand with the corporation from the tender preparation stage, to the evaluation of bids and to the actual awarding of projects. Of course, the MMA would also regulate operations once bidders have the go-ahead to embark on their projects.

As such, the MMA has its work cut out for it, but Dr Bonello is upbeat.

“With the myriad activities taking place around the port, I believe this port would become a real gem once we embark upon this set of projects. No doubt there will be a consultation process and it is not as if these projects are cast in stone. They are ideas, but they are ideas meant to spur discussion and hopefully a consensus on how to proceed.”