Gozo Channel chairman Maurice Zarb Adami on Thursday said that the company was going to revise the new winter schedule which came into effect on September 29.

The new schedule, which was due to run till January 4, carried gaps of about two hours and 45 minutes between the evening ferries. Details of the revised times are not yet known, since they are still being discussed, but are likely to be announced by the end of November.

Gozo Tourism Association chairman Sammy Rapa, who is also a director of Gozo Channel, held a meeting last Thursday to discuss an alternative ferry timetable. In a letter sent to Dr Zarb Adami the association proposed to adjust the hours to reduce the gaps between trips while still maintaining the same number of trips as at present. A meeting between the GTA and Mr Zarb Adami is expected to take place this week.

The Gozitan Poultry Producers Co-operative appealed to Gozo Channel to reserve a space for their vehicles during the 9.30 p.m. ferry to Malta. Anthony Zammit, president of the Gozitan Poultry Producers Co-operative, said the new ferry schedule, with its reduction in trips will directly affect the transportation of poultry to Malta, since the chickens are slaughtered at midnight in Malta to be put on the market early in the morning. He stated that this has increased the need to continue discussions with the Gozo Channel board regarding the transportation of livestock from Gozo to Malta.

Mr Zarb Adami was recently informed by the co-operative of meetings held with the previous Gozo Channel board which dealt with the conditions and measures which conform with animal welfare laws of Malta and European Union regulations.

Dr Carmel Galea, who recently organised a petition for the new timetable to be revised, is organising a meeting at the Circolo Gozitano on Savina Square, Victoria, next Sunday at 10 a.m. to form an action committee to draw the attention of the government and authorities to the complaints of commuters between Malta and Gozo.