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Julian Manduca
Forty foot containers of rotting food lie in Cagliari and Reggio Callabria and while the owners of the food are tearing their hair out the government is underestimating the problem, according to GRTU Director General Vince Farrugia.
Importers and exporters have told MaltaToday they are still facing major problems with containers arriving at their destination and the GRTU is accusing the government of not affording the problem the importance it deserves.
The issue had been brought to the fore by The Times 1 July, but importers told this newspaper that that report had little effect and Vince Farrugia said the government continued to remain complacent.
Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and the Self Employed Edwin Vassallo, told this newspaper the problem was being solved as the Freeport was managing to find more slots for the shipping lines, and that the only problem remaining was for the importers to find the right line.
But the importers told MaltaToday they were anything but impressed with Vassallo’s words and said the Parliamentary Secretary should name the shipping lines that could bring their goods to Malta.
Importers speaking to MaltaToday complained of containers of perishable food, already paid for that has been stuck in foreign ports for up to a month. Supermarkets and other retailers are not pleased either and have started to blame the importers for empty shelves.
According to Vince Farrugia the problems are complex and have an international dimension because the China export machine has been so successful in recent years that its ships are clogging up the ports in much of the world, so Malta’s problem has been further compounded.
However, both the importers and the FOI cited the dominance of the CMA and IRISL lines as a major cause of the problem and said that over the past months the other lines have been skipping Malta as they have not been finding berths here.
The importers say they cannot use CMA, China Shipping or IRISL from their ports of supply, and other lines continue to ignore Malta. They are suggesting that arrangements should be made to allow more berths in Malta and told MaltaToday that their situation is alarming.
Federation of Industry Director General Edwin Calleja told MaltaToday: “The situation at the Freeport has visibly deteriorated for both importing and exporting of merchandise. Malta’s industry has to import its supplies of raw materials and components before exporting its merchandise. So it is being hit on both counts.”
Calleja explained: “Thanks to the increase in transhipment at the Freeport, Malta's industry has for a number of years been enjoying the consequential benefits of having a number of shipping lines that were serving several ports throughout the world and that stopped at Malta for transhipping purposes.
This worked to local industry's advantage because enterprises have managed to find cargo space on the container ships coming to Malta and sailing to a number of destinations previously not even dreamt of.”
The FOI director general said the two major shipping lines were to blame for Malta’s problems: “In recent months Freeport Corporation has been giving priority to two particular shipping lines who are its major clients. These seem to be very insensitive to the particular needs of Malta and are hardly bothering to provide any service to Malta’s industry.”
Calleja confirmed what the importers are claiming: “There are other shipping lines that formerly had ships calling regularly at Malta Freeport who are now no longer doing so because of delays to allocate to them ‘slots’ and to guarantee prompt loading and unloading of cargo.
“The reduction in the number of shipping lines using Malta Freeport has definitely created problems to local industry and the Federation has had a number of complaints in recent months from enterprises that were either receiving their imports late or having delays in their export shipments, or finding difficulty to send shipments direct to their customers and without the loss of time that is associated with transhipment.
“This situation is giving cause for concern and the FOI is conducting discussions with the port management and even at government level in an effort to find solutions.”
MaltaToday spoke to both Freeport chairman Mark Portelli, and Minister Austin Gatt about the problems and both were aware that certain importers and exporters were facing difficulties. Portelli said that ever since the EPIC shipping line ceased servicing Malta "certain solutions were no longer available, while others have become available."
Minister Gatt and Portelli both recognised that the Freeport is presently nearing its full capacity and Gatt said "It requires continuous investment to expand its capabilities. This is one of the reasons the Government decided to privatise the Freeport."
Gatt explained that: "Overall, the port has increased the traffic volumes it handles over the years, reaching a record of 1.3 million containers in 2003. Services from the Freeport over the last years have increased and today local importers and exporters can reach over 100 ports worldwide on a weekly basis."
The minister informed MaltaToday, however, that it is "discussing with the Freeport the possibility of holding a series of workshops that will involve all interested parties so that solutions are identified and agreed."
The FOI and GRTU are expected to meet the minister responsible for the Freeport, Austin Gatt next week.
julian@newsworksltd.com
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