Palumbo-MSC has said it is baffled by the letter of complaint sent by residents to the Environment and Resource Authority, complaining about loud noise emanating from the shipyard.
A group of 141 residents from the Cottonera and surrounding area said they are “suffering severely” due to the Palumbo-MSC shipyard's operations, “which have been even worse than usual in recent weeks.” They took to writing a letter to ERA, which is the competent authority which oversees environmental noise regulations.
In Palumbo’s reaction, it said that it takes health and safety very seriously, and ERA has recently renewed the environmental permit for the shipyard.
“Only last night, we too went out to monitor the noise generated by the yard and confirmed that the decibel level does not exceed the volume of a normal conversation,” Palumbo said, reacting to the resident’s claims that the noise levels have superseded what is considered to be safe, let alone acceptable in the middle of the night.
Palumbo invited the public to come and see with their own eyes that the operations are conducted with the utmost respect for the environment.
It also said that four vessels are connected to shore power so that their generators can be switched off for the entire duration of the repair process.
On alleged foul smells the residents spoke about, Palumbo said that no foul smells emanate from the shipyard, also encouraging the authorities to look into what is leading to this.
“Air quality is constantly monitored by ERA and the reading for Friday, November 4 was FAIR — a better result than Msida. This information is freely available on ERA’s website,” it said.
It invited the public to make their concerns over activity at the yard personally, on the one-off instances of noise, so that this can be addressed immediately, it said.
“We took over the shipyard 13 years ago and since then we have completely upgraded the operations in the interests of our community, the environment, and our clients. However, we cannot be blamed for everything that happens in the port,” Palumbo said.