A number of motorists were yesterday forced to wait for the next ferry to Gozo after trailers turned up at the last minute and were allowed to jump the queue.

It turns out, however, that trailers are occasionally given priority boarding by ferry service operator Gozo Channel so as to maximise the use of hoistable car decks. These decks are only operational when no heavy vehicles are aboard.

“Otherwise, each time there is a single trailer onboard we would have to sacrifice one deck and accommodate fewer cars as there would not be enough headroom to lower this mechanism,” Gozo Channel’s executive chairman Joe Cordina said when asked for an explanation.

This newspaper received a number of phone calls yesterday morning from irate motorists complaining of being made to wait an extra 45 minutes for the next boat after the trailers that had just turned up were allowed to board ahead of them.

Mr Cordina pointed out that this procedure was only applied on occasion, when traffic crossing the channel was particularly heavy.

Each time there is a single trailer on board we would have to sacrifice one deck and accommodate fewer cars

In these situations, he said, the company sought to maximise the use of hoistable decks which nearly doubled the vessels’ vehicle-carrying capacity.

This was done by grouping all trailers and heavy vehicles in a single trip.

Mr Cordina added that most of the time, truck drivers were the ones complaining when they were prevented from boarding the ferry until there were a sufficient number of them waiting.

Normally such measures are only taken on Friday mornings and occasionally on Sunday evenings, he added.

“Nevertheless, the company tries to avoid implementing the measure by using the MV Gaudos for such trips as this vessel has no hoistable decks,” Mr Cordina said.

Both the other Gozo Channel vessels, the MV Malita and the MV Ta’ Pinu – each having a capacity of 72 vehicles – can both accomodate an extra 66 cars when making used of the hoistable decks at the side.