Updated Wednesday with Gozo Tourism Association call for reconsideration

A cooperative of ferry operators who will as of Saturday exclusively run ferries between Cirkewwa and Comino has hit back at critics, saying they were the only firm to bid for the job. 

In a statement, Comino Ferries Coop said that it had won a tender issued by Transport Malta last July after being the only applicant. 

The tender is for a single entity to run a Comino ferry from Marfa and Ċirkewwa. Currently, ferry trips between Malta and Comino are unregulated and provided by dozens of different operators. That will change as of January 25, when the new arrangement comes into effect. 

Mariners and owners of commercial vessels received a letter from Transport Malta informing of the new exclusive arrangement earlier in January. 

Existing operators have reacted angrily to the arrangement and urged prime minister Robert Abela to wade in and reverse the decision.

“We are small businesses with big ambitions,” one wrote on Facebook. “We are not just 50 individual operators but behind every operator there is a family being supported by this small business.”

But the cooperative which won the tender reacted by noting that none of the operators had applied to win the business themselves. 

“All other operators had been offered the opportunity to submit a bid when the tender was issued. None chose to do so,” the cooperative said.

The cooperative is made up of Captain Morgan cruises and three other smaller operators which already previously provided ferry services to Comino. 

Pleasure trips and fishing and diving expeditions are not part of the tender deal, the cooperative added. The winning bidder will be introducing a centralised ticketing system and investing €5 million in new hybrid vessels, it said. 

Call for reconsideration

The Gozo Tourism Association urged Transport Malta to reconsider its decision.   

It said a monopoly was being created to the detriment of commercial vessel owners and operators, many of which are Gozo based.

Furthermore, the selected operator would be allocated all landing quays in Cirkewwa, Marfa and around Comino.

"This condition will be hindering the normal operation of the unscheduled sea transport services offered by the operators and owners, who up to now offered their boat transport services to a wide range of clientele including divers, conference and incentive groups, and other leisure services," it said.

If the landing quays of Marfa and Cirkewwa were not available at any time, Gozo might lose out on conferences groups that mostly cross to Gozo through these landing places, the association added.