Captain Morgan offered the cheapest quotation for the taking on board of migrants off Malta's shore, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said in Parliament.

He said that Captain Morgan offered a €3000 per day quotation, whilst the company Supreme Cruises offered a price of €6500 per day. Two other companies did not offer a price as they were not interested in the work, Camilleri added.

Camilleri tabled the information on Wednesday in Parliament after PN MP Jason Azzopardi asked regarding the quotations.

Back in May, more than 400 migrants were on board four Captain Morgan vessels which were outside Maltese territorial waters. Malta had closed its ports to migrants arriving as part of travel restrictions introduced because of COVID-19 pandemic.

The government contracted the Captain Morgan vessels to host these migrants rescued at sea. The government had said that they were to keep migrants on board the vessels until a European solution was found to relocate the people. On 6 June, migrants were finally allowed to disembark the vessels, after fear spread amongst the crew that the migrants would take over the vessels.

Camilleri said that currently there are no migrants being detained at sea in coordination with the Maltese government.