Updated 7.50pm
A court has turned down a request to suspend a new contract that gives exclusive rights to a new operator to provide a scheduled ferry service to Comino, but blocked plans for the new operator to have priority berthing rights.
The concession had been stalled after 12 operators filed an injunction, which was temporarily upheld, complaining that the Port Notice - granting a cooperative exclusive access to jetties in Ċirkewwa, the Blue Lagoon and Santa Marija Bay - would effectively kill their business.
In a statement on Saturday, Transport Malta said the civil court decision had confirmed the validity of the public concession. The same court affirmed that the agreement was "valid, currently active and would remain so", it said.
Transport Malta said this showed it had "acted with utmost transparency throughout the process and respected the rights of the other operators".
However, the operators' lawyer Ann Fenech told Times of Malta that the decision did not confirm the contract's validity - as stated by Transport Malta - as its merits had not been up for decision.
"Currently the tender and therefore the contract has been suspended by the Public Contracts Review Board on the application of another group of ferry owners who operate a scheduled ferry service and as a result this contract have been deprived of earning a living," she said.
She said the court had turned down the request to suspend the contract on the basis that the applicants were not affected because they offered a pre-booked, and not a scheduled, service.
However, the court upheld the injunction with regards to priority berthing. The court said that this would mean the existing operators would be unable to disembark passengers if the new operator did not stick to established timings, and that the contract did not foresee any penalties for failing to do so.
The operators now have 20 days within which to file an action against Transport Malta, Dr Fenech said.
Under the 15-year concession, the new operator will have exclusive rights to ferry people from designated berthing facilities in Comino and Ċirkewwa and to make use of eco-friendly vessels.
It was handed to a cooperative of ferry operators that includes Captain Morgan cruises and three other small operators previously providing this service, following a request for proposals issued by TM last year.
This put at stake the future of around 50 operators providing unscheduled and pre-booked trips between Malta and Comino.
The existing operators had argued that the request for the proposal itself was designed to cater for a specific operator because of certain requisites such as the size of the vessels, a minimum capacity of 175 people, as well as a steep bid bond of a staggering €50,000, which small operators surely cannot afford.
The Gozo Tourism Association had also criticised the new arrangement, arguing that it would create a “monopoly” that would negatively impact tourism on the sister island.
The cooperative that will now run the service - Comino Ferries Coop - has hit back by insisting it was the only firm to bid for the job.
Article amended on February 15 to reflect the operators' view that the court decision did not confirm the validity of the contract, which remains suspended by the Public Contracts Review Board.