PN claims Gozo Channel is to be privatised

Updated 1.52pm

The Nationalist Party has claimed that work is under way to privatise the Gozo Channel ferry service.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday morning, two PN MPs said they possessed information indicating that the plan is to privatise the state-owned company, which operates a ro-ro ferry crossing between Malta and Gozo.

MPs Alex Borg and Ivan Castillo said that the prospect of a privatised Gozo Channel raised multiple questions, from what would happen to the Ċirkewwa and Mġarr ferry terminals to the fate of the many workers employed by the state-owned firm.

PN MPs Alex Borg and Ivan Castillo speaking on Saturday morning. Photo: PN

Gozo Channel operates the ferry crossing on the strength of a Public Service Obligation granted to it by the government. The PSO expired several years ago but has been continually renewed to allow the company to continue operating the service.

Was the Gozo Channel the victim of budget cuts, the two PN MPs asked, and if so was the company destined to undergo the same restructuring fate as national airline Air Malta?

The two PN MPs asked whether there were plans to modify the two ports, and whether studies had been undertaken which...