[WATCH] Fast ferry operators losing money on Gozo route

The two operators offering a fast ferry service between the islands are losing money because patronage is low, a shareholder in one of the companies has admitted.

Michael Zammit Tabona, owner of the Fortina Group and shareholder in Gozo Fast Ferry Ltd, said competition on the Malta-Gozo route was not making sense.

Gozo Fast Ferry Ltd and Virtu Ferries started operating a fast ferry service between Grand Harbour and Mġarr last year, after government liberalised the market.

In a frank interview on TVM News Plus Xtra on Monday night, Zammit Tabona, a veteran hotelier, said competition on the route was not making sense.

“Tourist arrivals as a result of COVID have dropped and Gozitans are not using the fast ferry service. Competition on a route where there is no beef does not make sense,” he said.

Michael Zammit Tabona

The admission comes a year after the operators launched their respective services. Gozo Ferry Ltd had even invested in two bespoke catamarans that each carried up to 300 passengers and operated with low emissions.

But Gozo Business Chamber CEO Daniel Borg complained last week that the fast ferry service had become an “unacceptable” monopoly.

Borg was speaking during a parliamentary Gozo Affairs Committee that discussed the service. When the service launched, the two companies operated different schedules and charged different prices, Borg said.

Today, the companies are operating on a shared schedule and a ticket bought from one company is transferable to the other. The traces of competition when the fast ferry services were introduced have all but disappeared, leading to fewer trips.

Zammit Tabona acknowledged the situation and emphasised the financial difficulties the companies are facing. “Competition is good but we have to be careful where this happens because the two companies operating a fast ferry service are not making money on the Gozo route,” he said.

The two islands are also serviced by the Gozo Channel Company, which operates four passenger and vehicle ships between Ċirkewwa and Mġarr. In the 1990s, the company also operated a fast catamaran service between Mġarr and Sa Maison in Pietà but this was stopped because it was not financially viable.