Heavy cruise liner traffic in Grand Harbour

Seven cruise liners are expected to enter Grand Harbour on Wednesday next week, the highest number ever in one day, Transport Minister Censu Galea said yesterday.

That would mean that all cruise liner berths in Grand Harbour would be occupied.

Mr Galea was speaking yesterday as six liners made port, bringing in 5,000 passengers. One of the liners berthed at Laboratory Wharf, across the water from Marsa.

Estimates for the sector indicated that over 400 liners would visit Malta by the end of this year, bringing in 350,000 passengers.

Indications for next year show that this sector is expected to expand further, Mr Galea said.

Speaking to reporters at the Deep Water Quay in Marsa, he said the berths used by cruise liners were now being administered by the Viset consortium, which plans to embark on a Lm10 million port terminal project.

Grand Harbour can only take a maximum of seven cruise liners at any one time, meaning Viset and the Malta Maritime Authority had to identify new berths to accommodate more ships.

The passenger liners in Grand Harbour yesterday were Assedo, A Rosa Blu and Constellation represented in Malta by SMS; Mistral and The Iris represented by JB Sorotto and R 5 Blue Dream represented by Mondial.