Italian shipping company Grimaldi will start operating a new roll-on roll-off freight service to the Tuscan port of Livorno from tomorrow in the latest expansion since taking over from Sea Malta five years ago.
The service will operate twice weekly with departures from Malta on Monday and Saturday and from Livorno on Monday and Thursday.
Grimaldi Group commercial manager Guido Grimaldi said the service will be integrated into the regular service currently operated between Malta, Catania and Genoa.
Mr Grimaldi said the new route was a sign of the company’s commitment to strengthen its operations here.
The company also inaugurated two vessels that will be operating the route. The ships, one of which was christened Eurocargo Malta, have a length of 200 metres and can carry around 280 trailers each.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony yesterday, Transport Minister Austin Gatt said the expansion showed how wise the government’s decision was in 2005 to wrap up Sea Malta and allow the private sector to run commercial services.
“Grimaldi is operating a profitable, stable and frequent service that benefits the industry, which confirms the government’s belief that it should not be involved in commercial operations,” Dr Gatt said, pointing out that over five years the number of trailers per year shipped between Malta and Italy shot up from around 10,000 to 23,000.