Venice and Malta are not in competition - Marin Hili

Freeport chairman Marin Hili, whose company Mariner, SpA recently bought half the shares of the company running the port of Venice, argued there was no conflict of interest between his private interests and his chairmanship of the Malta Freeport.

Mr Hili has been accused of having a conflict of interest by Labour education spokesman Evarist Bartolo but has been defended by the government, including the Prime Minister himself who declared time and again that Mr Hili had no conflict of interest as he had informed the government about the Venice deal before negotiations begun and that he had wanted to resign but the government insisted he should stay as he was the best man for the job at the time.

I interviewed Mr Hili yesterday:

Do you see a conflict of interest being chairman of the Malta Freeport and your involvement in the port of Venice?

As I already indicated, a conflict of interest exists if, and only if, the two ports are in competition. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge of the shipping business knows that this is not the case.

The government is fully aware of this and I have already stated that if the government sees a conflict of interest I would relinquish my post immediately.

The main asset of Malta Freeport is, and will continue to be, its strategic location in the centre of the Mediterranean route between Gibraltar and the Suez Canal. This fact, well known by shippers, is fundamental for all those shipping lines that want to deliver their cargo through a transhipment hub. My post at the Freeport and my interests in Venice are as distant as the 1,400 km which separate Malta and Venice.

The Prime Minister said, as recently as last Friday, that on a number of occasions you asked him to be relieved from your position at the Freeport. What is the position now?

I informed the Prime Minister and the Minister of Economic Services over a year ago of my intention to relinquish my post in view of my other commitments. In fact, I appointed an executive committee at the Freeport and I only get involved when necessary and that has been the position since last year.

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo has been very vociferous about your interest in Venice. He stated that the port of Venice would operate on all the routes of the Mediterranean and would service ports in the Middle East and Far East. In the coming years, the port of Venice would start competing for the container business in the Mediterranean. What do you have to say about this?

The terminal in Venice in which I have an interest is located where it is and caters for regional business. It is not and will not be in a position to compete with Mediterranean hubs, including Malta.

There may not be a conflict of interest now, but could there be a potential for one?

The two ports are not in competition because of physical and logistical factors which cannot be altered: location and sea depth. Quite frankly, I cannot envisage Venice being moved closer to Malta.

Recently there has been a change in the client base of the Freeport. What were the reasons behind it?

The Grand Alliance which had been a Freeport customer for a number of years decide to shift its business to Gioia Tauro (in the southern Italian region of Calabria). As in any other business, pricing plays a vital role in the shipping industry. A member of the Grand Alliance has been quoted in the foreign press that "they got an offer from Gioia Tauro that they could not refuse".

Alliances are formed between a number of partners which have different opinions. Two of the five shipping lines within the Grand Alliance have publicly expressed their disagreement to shift the business from Malta and have also indicated that they would return to Malta since they are not satisfied with the service they are getting from Gioia Tauro.

What, in business terms, is the effect of the client changes at the Freeport?

Container transhipment business is highly competitive. You can never assume that clients will stay in one particular port forever. Thus, continuous contact with shipping lines has to be maintained to secure growth.

When the Freeport was informed that Grand Alliance will shift its services to Gioia Tauro, discussions were already going on with a number of shipping lines to continue developing our business.

We have succeeded in attracting a new service operated by the Taiwanese line Yang Ming and the Japanese 'K' Line. The throughput results for the first six months at the Freeport show that the Freeport handled 612,000 TEUs (containers), which means an increase of over 50,000 TEUs on the same period last year.

One has to consider that this increase is being registered following a record-breaking result last year, which has placed the Freeport 12th among the top European ports.

These positive results have to be further underlined by the fact that there was a change in the client base of the Freeport and the general decline in volumes handled by other ports.

In spite of all the market difficulties, the results achieved during the first six months are very encouraging. However, we have to keep our feet on the ground and continue to strive for better results in terms of efficiency towards our customers.

The credibility and reliability that the Freeport has built up during the years is serving us very well, particularly at this time when everything is so fluid.