In the sweltering heat, Duncan Bone keeps his windows shut to block out the noise of the new fast ferry service but that doesn’t stop the fumes.

“It sounds like a plane is about to take off every half hour and you can literally taste the exhaust in your mouth,” he said.

Bone is one of the Valletta residents and businesses that say they are having to endure nauseating fumes and noisy engines of a vessel owned by Virtu Ferries,  one of the operators of the fast ferry service to Gozo that launched on June 1.

People living and working near the Ta' Liesse terminal say the ferry starts its engines at about 7am, keeping them on until they are boarding passengers, a process that can take up to half an hour.

It continues through the day as the ferry comes and goes and ends past midnight, residents report.

Bone, who lives in an apartment on Battery Street, said the noise is “constant” and makes it impossible to have meetings as he works from home.

“I have to shut all the windows and doors… but I have to smell the fumes all the time. If I go out and come back hours later, the apartment smells like a petrol station.”

Concerned for both his health and well-being, Bone has attempted to take up the issue with the company operating the service, however, he has yet to receive a reply.

“One night, the noise was so unbearable that I called the police. They couldn’t do much about it and said they couldn’t stop them from working.”

Mark Weingard, founder of Iniala group, which operates the luxury Iniala Harbour House boutique hotel, in Valletta, said that he was originally thrilled with the initiative to operate a fast ferry service to Gozo. But he said the noise and the fumes were unacceptable.

“This boat is a disgrace, it’s like having a foul, noisy, old truck belching out fumes in the Grand Harbour,” he said.

“We are in no way against the ferry terminal being here, on the contrary, we think it’s fantastic and a great opportunity for tourists as well as citizens of Gozo to improve access to Valletta. However, this kind of noisy, polluting boat should not be allowed.”

Weingard said that business owners went through a lot of effort to beautify the area and keep it attractive but noise and pollution risk putting off patrons for enjoying the facilities.

“The Grand Harbour is a jewel in our country and we should treat it as such. If a noisy, polluting vehicle would not be allowed in our streets, why should it be allowed in the Grand Harbour?”

A spokesperson for Virtu Ferries told Times of Malta vessels are maintained to the highest standard and that discussions were underway with the authorities to see if mitigation measures were available.

“Our vessels run on ultra-low sulphur diesel which is the cleanest form of diesel on the market,” he said.

“All diesel engines emit limited exhaust fumes, as do our vessels. Black smoke is more often than not emitted as a result of a forced manoeuvre requiring sudden increased power but is not a regular occurrence.”

“All our vessel’s engines are Class approved and certified conforming to International Maritime Organisation standards.”

The spokesperson added that it was not only Virtu’s vessels which emitted smoke but those of their competitors and other vessels as well.