Privatise the shipyards

The editorial on Malta Shipyards facing the "C" word (April 8) asked the government to confirm what will happen to Malta Shipyards at the end of the year. Will it close after the agreement between the government and EU on subsidies expires at the end of the year?

Closing Malta Shipyards will have a big impact on the ports of Malta, the shipping community and the 'yard workers, apart from meaning the loss of an essential service for the port of Malta. This is not taking into consideration the indirect business the 'yard generates for the island while vessels are under repair in Malta such as ship agency services, freight forwarding, ship chandling, airfares for crew, hotel accommodation, taxi transfers, car hire and many other services required by the vessels during their stay not accounted for. The 'yard is an important facility for vessels making other commercial calls at Malta and is also strategic for emergency repairs that can only be done at the 'yard.

There are also other local companies that require Malta Shipyards' expertise and facilities for heavy industry works which cannot be done anywhere else.

To start a 'yard today is close to impossible since you would need to train the entire workforce and build all the facilities needed to complement the 'yard. Most shiprepair yards in the world are operating profitably, overbooked with work and unable to serve all their customers. There are 'yards that have been reopened due to the amount of work that is currently available for them.

In Malta we do not have smaller subcontracting companies that can provide shiprepair and other local heavy industry works. Once the shipyard is gone, we would be left without this facility that the Maltese islands require.

I do not want to go down the road of asking whether the source of the problem at Malta Shipyards is management, poor productivity or something else. What has to be done is to solve the problem and have Malta Shipyards work profitably and, in turn, complement the shipping trade while providing a service locally with heavy industrial works when required.

I imagine that the EU would like to have a good shipyard operating in Malta that could assist owners to repair their vessels to meet all safety standards, especially when a high tonnage of vessels is registered under the Malta flag.

Can we have our MMA port state control boarding a vessel in local waters recommending that certain repairs be carried out for safety reasons and then not have local facilities to conduct these repairs?

The only solution is to put the 'yard up for sale on the international market and have the major overseas shiprepair companies consider investing in the 'yard and running it with their professional management as a shiprepair yard.

We have a lot of successful examples in Malta of such arrangements, like Malta Freeport, the Oil Tanking terminal, Tug Malta, Viset, Valletta Gateway Terminal, HSBC Bank Malta and Malta International Airport, plus others in the pipeline.

All these companies that have been privatised, and continue to employ Maltese workers, have contributed by offering professional services to overseas and local clients, giving Malta the image it requires in the international shipping market.