Updated: Adds Palumbo statement
An oil rig that has blighted Grand Harbour views for years left for Croatia on Tuesday after the shipyard involved was told by the transport minister to shift its operations.
The Atwood Beacon, one of the oil rigs in Palumbo Shipyard, was towed out, months after residents and activists kicked up dust about the idle oil rigs sitting there for years. One oil rig now remains at the shipyard. It should be removed by the end of April.
Intervening in the issue, the ombudsman confirmed Palumbo had no right to be berthing oil rigs in the shipyard but only vessels and said transport Malta had ordered the oil rigs to be vacated.
Transport Minister Ian Borg confirmed this in January and also announced that an agreement struck with Palumbo will also see the removal of half-sunk vessels in Marsa Creek, with the authorities now imposing a two-month limit on vessels being repaired in the Grand Harbour, and extensions applicable in exceptions.
Anger over the oil rigs stationed idly in the shipyard first came to the fore in 2017 when then Valletta 2018 Foundation chairman Jason Micallef pointed to the massive structures, which he said ruined the aesthetic of the Grand Harbour.
A Palumbo Malta Shipyards spokesperson had informed Times of Malta a two-year contract to revamp the jack-up oil rig would expire in 2018, however, in 2020 the rig in question was still there.
The issue was brought up again at the end of last year when Azzjoni Tuna Artna called on the Ombudsman to take action on a number of irregularities within the shipyard including "inappropriate waste disposal".
Palumbo said in a statement that maintenance works on the rig had been completed.
The rig, it said, was powered through onshore electricity and berthed following clearance from the authorities. It had come to Malta four years ago after the shipyard beat off tough competition from international yards to bring the business to Malta.
Malta's Grand Harbour, Palumbo said, has always been intimately linked to maritime business and shipbuilding, and structures of this nature feature on the skylines of every working port.
It said that, as a group, it has been working hard to boost economic activity in a very challenging industry, and during particularly tough times brought about by the pandemic.
Palumbo said the second jack-up rig in the shipyard will be departing Malta in the coming weeks as agreed with the owners and the government.
Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
Photo: Chris Sant Fournier