Grimaldi Group has decided to remove the fuel surcharge that it had introduced last July.

A few weeks ago, The Sunday Times of Malta had asked why the surcharge was being retained even though the cost of oil had dropped dramatically since then.

Sullivan Maritime, which represents Grimaldi in Malta, said yesterday that the so-called Bunkering Adjustment Factor would be removed as from November 10.

The group clarified that, in line with its policy, the BAF was never used to speculate on the market but was applied as an index to cover a “small part” of operational costs due to the increasing price of the Brent.

“Once the company consumed all the bunker destined to Malta’ services, which had already been bought at higher prices, and once the trend of Brent price became stable, Grimaldi was able to take this decision.

“It also avoided a last BAF adjustment even though the currency adjustment factor has partially eroded the benefit produced by the decrease in the cost of Brent cost,” it noted, explaining that the bunker was bought in dollars.

“The dollar/euro exchange value has dramatically decreased during last weeks falling down from €1.34/$ to €1.24/$; of course on a big amount, fluctuations like this mean huge losses. This should make it clear that we considered it correct to cancel the BAF adjustment to support the market,” Grimaldi said.

On June 23, Grimaldi had announced that since Brent had reached $115 per barrel, it was increasing the BAF on some of its departures, keeping it unchanged on less popular trips in an effort to encourage a shift to these.

The BAF, which varied from €260 to €480 depending on the route, was increased by a flat rate of €50.

Asked at the time whether it would take a stand on this issue, which affects the bulk of Malta’s trade, the Malta ­Chamber of Commerce, ­Enterprise and Industry had said: “Malta’s competitiveness has its topmost priority on its agenda. It has repeatedly made this point in a number of fora, both locally and at a ­European level.

“In the light of this, the Chamber is ­following developments closely.”