Foreword

MR. JOSEPH BUGEJA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Transport Malta

TAKING TRANSPORT BACK TO NORMALITY

Over a year has passed since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Apart from the fact that the country is rolling out a massive national vaccination programme, nothing much has changed since then, as restrictions are still in place. This means that people are still travelling less, both domestically and internationally, at least, at the time of writing. This state of affairs brought with it a crunch in the transport sector, as is evident enough from statistics being published by various transport operators in the beginning of the year.

Looking at the 2020 figures posted by the Malta International Airport for example, we have a good snapshot of the domino effect that such a drop left and is still leaving on the whole country, since tourism is one of the main pillars of the Maltese economy.

To put things into perspective, the year 2020 registered a 76.1% drop over 2019 in passenger movements. In fact, these are the lowest passenger movement figures ever released by the company since it assumed responsibility for the management of our national air terminal back in 2002. At the time, passenger movements hovered around 2.6 million.

By the end of 2020, passenger movement figures stood at 1,748,050 when compared to the 7.4% registered increase in 2019 over the previous year, which saw the highest-ever recorded passenger movements since 2002, that is 7,310, 289 passenger movements.

Similar massive drops were registered across European Airports with an overall contraction of around 79,6%.

Similarly, a big hit was also registered by the Valletta Cruise Port as far as incoming cruise passengers are concerned. When compared to 2019, the total number of cruise passengers visiting Malta was that of 59,018. Approximately 906,000 cruise passengers were registered in 2019, which coincidentally was also a record. This translated into a massive drop of 92.3%.

These drops have left hard and negative impacts on other sectors such as land transport operators, who also registered considerable drops in activity when compared the previous years of increasing economic growth.

As we are entering the first quarter of 2021, we are still waiting for the publication of figures for the first quarter, but it isn’t expected that the situation will look any brighter during this period, which hopefully, will not be long.

Everyone is looking optimistically at the start of the upcoming summer season and we believe that the industry will return to some form of recovery. In the meantime, most companies are taking the opportunity to continue with their preparations to be able to re-start their businesses when the situation permits. Such preparations are also being done by the Transport Authority at a National Level.

Bolstering Transport Malta’s Modernisation Programme

Transport Malta is continuing with its upgrading programme in place as well as a reform across all of its Directorates. The biggest investment is being made on its infrastructure, assets, and technology, particularly within the Maritime Enforcement Unit. This year, the Unit will see 5 new additional marine assets added to its fleet, not to mention the fact that towards the end of last year, the staff compliment of the Maritime Enforcement Unit was also increased to be able to keep up with the workload.

On the other hand, several projects are also being prepared with respect to traffic management as well as new infrastructure initiatives within the Valletta Grand Harbour. This is being done as a collaboration with Infrastructure Malta, the National Agency responsible for national infrastructure delivery.

The Grand Harbour Clean-Up and regeneration

In the last few moths Transport Malta has been actively assisting in the general clean up of our Grand Harbour. Regulations were updated and enforcement is being stepped up to make sure that the various operators and other actors operating within the harbour, do so in full respect of their obligations and responsibilities.

The recent review of the ‘Laid up’ policy within Transport Malta has also led to the departure of the two ~Jackup Rigs~ that were idle at the Grand Harbour for more than four years and as everyone may know, at the time of writing, these were already removed, thus restoring our skyline.

But not only. Further inland, mainly in Marsa Creek and not so visible to the general public, a good number of vessels lay idle in and around the creek, a good number of which are also half sunk. These vessels are taking important space which can otherwise be utilised in a better way. In this respect, Transport Malta, through its Port and Yachting Directorate and with the full cooperation of the Maritime Enforcement Department, has started to take a look at each case and has begun to enforce their removal accordingly. This is not an easy task as in a lot of cases, there have been legal issues concerning these vessels. Our aim is to continue with this clean up until we restore these areas, in order to make way for the continuation of the Regeneration of the Grand Harbour.

In this regard, the Government has already made major strides, especially with the dismantling of the old Marsa Power Station as well as the Ship to Shore project, currently being implemented by Infrastructure Malta. This project will give the opportunity to visiting and berthing ships to connect directly to our National Electricity Grid instead of run on heavy fuel oil which is negatively affecting air quality in the Port Area. This project was first studied by Transport Malta with the commissioning of a Feasibility Study on the technology as part of the Port PVEV Project.

ON THE OTHER HAND, SEVERAL PROJECTS ARE ALSO BEING PREPARED WITH RESPECT TO TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT AS WELL AS NEW INFRASTRUCTURE INITIATIVES WITHIN THE VALLETTA GRAND HARBOUR.

Land Transport

This current edition of the T-21 Publication is also giving the general public an insight on the work carried out by the Land Transport Directorate. With respect to Land Transport, we are currently proceeding with the second phase of the Mass Rapid Transport System Study, as was announced last November during the 2021 Budget Estimates Presentation speech. Currently, TM is in discussions with other Government Departments as well as with our Consultants in order to kick off the second phase of this study, so that the Government will be in a better position to take the necessary decisions on this project. This second phase in fact will see further detailed studies of technical, financial, economic, and environmental nature.

Modernisation and Technology

Throughout this year, the authority will also continue with its modernisation and most notably, the full digitisation of Transport Malta across all of its Directorates. Continued investments are being made in our GIS system which, once completed and fully functional, will be an important tool to assist us in transport policy and planning. Additional resources, as can be seen in this publication, are also being given to our Hydrographic Unit within the Ports and Yachting Directorate. Despite the small size of this unit, its work is very important in terms of the services it provides to the maritime industry.

THE AUTHORITY IS COMMITTED TO WORKING IN THIS DIRECTION OVER THE COMING MONTHS AND YEARS SO THAT WE KEEP MODERNISING OURSELVES WITH THE LATEST TECHNOLOGIES WHICH ULTIMATELY WILL REFLECT IN THE IMPROVED SERVICES TO OUR CLIENTS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC AT LARGE.