Marsaxlokk residents find ‘Hard Standing Facility’ hard to stand

Inaugurated by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in July 2007, the Marsaxlokk Hard Standing Facility was initially unveiled to the public as a form of subsidised assistance to local fishermen. Prior to its construction, Maltese fishermen had no option but to either vie for use of the limited existing maintenance facilities (which could only house three vessels at a time), or avail of the dockyard services to Sicily instead.

With the new facility, up to 16 vessels of up to 22 metres in length can be serviced simultaneously. The total cost of this project amounted to around €2 million, 75% financed by the Financial Instrument for Fisheries and Guidance (FIFG – Structural Funds), and the rest by the by the Maltese government.

But residents in the vicinity have since discovered that the improved service came at an additional, unforeseen cost.

“The noise doesn’t stop,” one resident of Port Ruman complained to MaltaToday. “It’s like a fully-fledged dockyard now: exactly the sort of thing they told us wouldn’t happen at the public consultation meetings in 2007…”

In consultation meetings before its inauguration, residents were also given assurances that the new facilities would be unobtrusive and would only be used for Maltese and EU-flagged fishing vessels. Since then, however, a wide variety of other vessels have also availed of the service: including AFM patrol boats, as well as pleasure yachts such as the Fernandez, which ran aground off Bahar ic-Caghaq in September 2010.

Among the controversial activities rumoured to be undertaken at the facility is sand blasting: a process that has long been associated with pollution problems – including the notorious ‘black dust’ problem affecting large parts of the south of Malta – and which has separately led to an impasse between the Malta Drydocks and the Planning Authority.

A spokesman for the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs confirmed that the facility is in fact open for use by non-fishing vessels, “subject to the condition that fishing vessels are given priority.”

“Use by commercial vessels was mainly undertaken during the fishing seasons, when most of the fishing fleet would be at sea and the Hard Standing Facility would have a number of vacant dry standing bays,” the spokesman said, adding that the facility runs in a self-sufficient, and non-profit making manner.

The Ministry is currently in the process of publishing a set of Regulations that are aimed to control the use of the Hard Standing Facility by fishing and non-fishing vessels. A draft legal notice to this effect was issued for consultation on 28 June, 2011.

 “The dry-standing services at the Hard Standing Facility were made use of by the vessel ‘Fernandez’ during September 2010, against the applicable fees,” the ministry official confirmed.  He also confirmed that AFM vessels have also utilised the service “in view that they are Government-owned and also owing to the fact that they are offering an essential service to the community.”
The Ministry stopped short of specifying the exact charges for non-fishing vessels. 

“The current cost incurred for using the Hard Standing Facility varies according to the type of vessel (fishing or non-fishing), length of the vessel, the type of hoisting crane utilised to hoist the vessel to land (depending on the hull construction and overall weight of the vessel) in addition to the dry-standing period duration. The cost is therefore variable, and unless a type and length of vessel is specified, it is difficult to determine whether the current cost would actually equate to €600.