Gozo Channel posts record profits

Gozo Channel Company Limited yesterday announced a 182 per cent rise in profits, carrying seven per cent more passengers and eight per cent more cars in 2006-2007 over the previous financial year.

This made it its best ever year of operations, with net profits reaching €1,854,000 (Lm795,922.20), an achievement which Investments Minister Austin Gatt put down to restructuring.

The company managed to cut operating costs by two per cent, to €11,169,000 (Lm4,794,852) and its administration costs by a further five per cent, to €992,000 (Lm425,866).

Revenue between October 2006 and September 2007 climbed by seven per cent over the previous year to just over €14 million (Lm6,010,200).

Dr Gatt expressed his satisfaction that, for the fourth year running, the company had managed to boost patronage from 3,554,714 to 3,795,121 passengers. Similarly, the number of cars carried by the ferry boats increased from 937,138 in 2006 to 1,013,180 last year.

He said that this year's carnival was a record-breaking weekend for the company. In 2006, it had carried 42,382 passengers and 12,345 cars in 237 trips. Last year, the figures rose to 62,183 and 18,390 in 317 trips. This year Gozo Channel ferried over 64,600 passengers and nearly 20,000 cars, while the number of trips increased to 344.

A comprehensive restructuring plan had made the company profitable again, Dr Gatt said. The €2.3 million (Lm987,390) loss in the 2002-2003 financial year had been reduced to €23,400 (Lm10,045.62) the following year and the company made a profit every year since.

He pointed to the various schemes launched to attract Maltese tourists to Gozo in the shoulder months. The government had managed to reach the aims it had set after the last general election.

The Mġarr and Ċirkewwa terminals will be up and running next year but the company will not be increasing its fares as a result of the increase in the cost of running the terminals.

The workforce was cut from 249 in 2003 to the present 233.

When asked about the direct bus route from Malta International Airport to Ċirkewwa, Gozo Channel chairman Joe Borg said over 2,000 had used the service in the first three months of this year.