The Gozo Channel Ferry Ta’ Pinu was yesterday re-launched after extensive refurbishment that included the complete embellishment of the passenger area.

The ship has also been fitted with a hoistable deck and can now carry up to 150 vehicles.

Such refurbishment will cut waiting times for passengers at the terminal as the ship’s vehicle-carrying-capacity has now doubled, said Gozo Channel Chairman Paul Curmi at a press conference on board the ship.

Ta’ Pinu has been out of service for five months, except for the Carnival and Easter periods when it joined the other two ships in the fleet to carry people between the two islands in the busy periods. It has been in service for 11 years.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said the investment in Ta’ Pinu reached €4 million and was to increase the company’s efficiency, and quality in service.

Now, two of the Gozo Channel’s ships are equipped with hoistable decks and this will cut waiting times, especially at peak times. The passenger area floors are now fire proof and the furniture has also been replaced. The ships have been designed to have car decks so this will in no way affect its fuel consumption or engines.

In all, Gozo Channel has invested €7.5 million on its fleet over the past four years, as the two other ships, Gaudos and Malita, have been refurbished as well. Works were carried out at the Palumbo Ship Yard.

In four years, Gozo Channel carried 17 million passengers and 8 million vehicles.

Despite the new hoistable deck, the time table will remain unchanged for the time being, although the company will continuously try to accommodate passengers’ needs and demands.

Commenting on an incident in which passengers some days ago waited on board the ferry that left 45 minutes late, Mr Fenech said the maximum time the ferry waits for very valid reasons is five minutes. The incident should therefore not have happened.

It seems the Victoria Local Council put pressure on the company and kept saying musicians will be at the ferry terminal within five minutes, but they were actually delayed much longer.

Allegations were made that the Gozo Channel crew started to raise the ramp as people were on it and an inquiry on the incident will be launched.

Mr Fenech said the inquiry will establish the facts but the Gozo Channel staff have clear instructions when to raise the ramp. It seems that a group of people tried to keep the ferry from departing while their friends had not yet arrived. In this case, the passengers were told the ferry could not wait for them but they did not accept this. He added that the people who made the allegations remained anonymous.

Replying to questions on incidents in which the ferry was delayed because of problems in the ramps on two consecutive weekends, Mr Curmi said that while Ta’ Pinu was out of service, the two other ferries were working 24 hours a day so it was difficult to carry out maintenance works on them.

The Gozo Channel crew however worked on two consecutive nights to get the problem solved with minimum inconvenience.