Over 170 top management officials from the world's leading cruise line companies, who attended a two-day sea trade conference in Malta, had words of praise for the island's work in the industry.

The conference, on the theme Winter Cruising In The Mediterranean, was held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.

A high-ranking delegation from MSC Cruises attended, including the company's managing director Domenico Pellegrino and Captain Luigi Pastena, in charge of ports and cruise liner itineraries.

The delegation held "very fruitful talks" with their local representatives Simon Coppini and Thomas Cauchi, the port agent and operations manager of J. Ripard and Sons Ltd.

They also met Norman Hamilton, chairman and managing director of Hamilton Travel Co. Ltd, which has been MSC Cruises' Malta general sales agents since 1996.

MSC Cruises is launching two new ships this year - the 92,000-tonne MSC Poesia will be paraded in Dover in April while the 135,000-tonne MSC Fantasia will be inaugurated in Naples in November, expanding the fleet to 10.

MSC is in negotiations with Hamilton Travel and terminal operators Viset to increase the frequency of its cruise liner visits to Malta next year and the year after.

This year, MSC Cruises estimates it will bring to Malta about 100,000 passengers with weekly back-to-back calls of MSC Sinfonia and MSC Rhapsody between April and November and winter calls by MSC Musica, MSC Opera and MSC Poesia.