June 11 saw the arrival of the vessel Moby Aki with over 900 transport operators from Italy and Sicily, all guests of Tirrenia, to launch their services from Malta. These were joined in the evening by another 150 Maltese operators for an event including a concert by Luca Carboni, dinner and drinks.
Minister Emmanuel Mallia welcomed the guests on board and recalled the fact that Tirrenia had operated routes to Malta over 25 years ago with a dedicated vessel passing by Naples, Reggio Calabria and Catania. Vincenzo Onorato, chairman of the Onorato Group, introduced the service which will begin on September 2 with a dedicated vessel operating from Malta to Catania with six trips a week going on to a daily service in 2017.
From Catania, this service will link to other routes operated by the company up the Adriatic to Ravenna and on the Tirrenean coast up to Livorno and Genova.
Mr Onorato has pledged his commitment to the increase of maritime transportation between the islands with a view to the increase of commerce between the respective countries.