Technical team to study quays issue

A technical team is being set up to look into the quays situation at the Valletta Waterfront to avoid a repeat of last week's incident when a cruise liner with 1,600 passengers was not allowed to berth for an hour.

The cruise liner's designated berth at Deep Water Quay was blocked by containers put there by Valletta Gateway Terminal (VGT) which argued that the liner's displacement was bigger than the quay's capacity. The quay is owned by VGT.

Viset, the consortium which operates the cruise liner terminal, insisted it had taken the necessary precautions for the cruise liner to dock safely.

The ship was allowed to berth after Competitiveness Minister Censu Galea said he would assume responsibility for any consequences.

VGT managing director Peter Darlay said yesterday that a meeting was held on Thursday between Mr Galea, the Maritime Authority, Viset and VGT and it was agreed that a technical team should be set up to look into the issue and how it could be resolved.

He said that VGT was to allow the quay to be used for berthing but only as far as its capacity allowed. Other solutions, such as what could be done to the quay to increase its capacity, would be looked into.