Sea Malta breaks even but laments neglect

Sea Malta said yesterday it managed to break even in the financial year ended March 31, despite fierce competition.

It said turnover increased by 2.7 per cent over the previous year.

The Sea Malta group, however, saw a 10.8 per cent drop in turnover which reflected itself in a negative bottom-line. No figures were given.

"This was due to the performance of MedFeeder, which was affected by an adverse exchange rate and a reduction in turnover. The situation in this company is currently being addressed.

"The increase in turnover of the holding company was realised through a number of initiatives including an aggressive marketing drive, both locally and overseas, running a tight ship with respect to administrative costs and, above all, through a team of commercially-oriented management and resourceful staff.

"The ongoing strategy of retaining close customer contact and the devising of customer-driven initiatives has remained high on the company's agenda and they have evidently paid dividends. Sea Malta-owned vessels, the mv Zebbug and mv Maltese Falcon, have again had a year of impeccable operational performance, which continued to boost the customer's confidence in Sea Malta's liner services.

"The shock of soaring bunker prices was partially contained with the timely application of a forward buying policy, which has reaped substantial savings in the running costs of these vessels" Sea Malta said.

"Sea Malta has managed to steer ahead completely on its own steam despite the fact that prospects of some form of capital injection and the implementation of an approved public service contract remained unrealised for another year.

"Furthermore, the company has not only refrained from backing away from its social obligations to provide essential services which did not make full economic sense in their present format, but it provided additional sailings when competition pulled out from service on Catania. This bears evidence of a company that embraces wholeheartedly its mission to provide an uninterruptible link between Malta and mainland Europe. Sea Malta has been doing this for the past 30 years, yet typical of overlooking something which has become customary, the strategic importance of the national shipping line has yet to become better recognised, definitely an underestimated role," the shipping line said.