Pharmaceutical manufacturers are among the worst hit by the ash cloud crisis, as they faced a "desperate" situation and risked losing business to non-EU competition, the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry told The Times Business.
The closure of European airspace has had a far-reaching effect on the business community, although the Chamber said it was premature to quantify the financial consequences. Chamber members whose business relied on just-in-time exports or their physical presence abroad were especially hit. Many businesses suffered the inconvenience of having key team members stranded overseas.
"In terms of imports and exports, many sectors depend more heavily on maritime and road transport, which has not been affected," the Chamber said. "Unfortunately, those companies which depend on air transport and couriers, including some large manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, have been at the mercy of this unfortunate crisis.
"Members from pharma companies have informed the Malta Chamber that this problem is currently their greatest difficulty, as pharmaceuticals are always transported by air since they have a tight expiry date. The airspace closure has created great havoc among product delivery with delays of weeks. The situation is a desperate one in this sector and the risk of losing clients to non-EU competitors is high."
The Chamber pointed out the best alternative solution at the moment was to deploy goods to Italy by ship and then by truck to the client. This solution, however, drastically prolonged times of delivery as the bottlenecks caused by traffic being diverted towards these routes have lengthened the delays.
"Importers of medicines are facing a similar situation," the Chamber added. "Companies abroad are trying to find a way to send the goods to Malta. Unfortunately vehicular transport is not as efficient, and will still cause delays. In terms of medicines stock, this too has been affected, in particular specific medicines, where the medicine's equivalent is available but the patient's prescribed medicine is not."
The Chamber said the tourism sector seems to have been negatively affected as more tourists whose stay had expired somehow found a route out of the island than tourists who were due to arrive did not.
George Micallef, president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, held a similar view.
"When the crisis began, numerous hotel guests were affected due to the cancellation of flights," he said. "However, once Air Malta put on extra flights to airports that remained open, most guests took the option of the alternative route and left, albeit later than their scheduled departure. Although we do not have precise figures, undoubtedly, the lost bednights by far exceeds any gained bed-nights as a result of stranded passenger remaining in Malta."
Mr Micallef said "no-shows" were difficult to quantify but estimated up to 40,000 arrivals had been lost.
"Between Thursday and Monday, 434 flights were cancelled. If one were to calculate that half of these were in-bound, these will equate to around 20,000 arrivals. One would then need to add the substantial cancellations we received for arrivals this week due to the uncertainty created because of the crisis and because of further flight cancellations, which can easily amount to a further 15,000 to 20,000 lost arrivals. These, are of course estimates, but lost nights are without any doubt substantial," he stressed.
Mr Micallef added the association expected a short-term negative effect on travel until flight schedules returned to normal but did not foresee any effect in the run-up to peak season "as long as we do not have any similar occurrences in the coming months".
Maltapost plc confirmed that mail backlog at Malta International Airport involved mail re-ceived since last Thursday destined to mainland Europe and the UK.
"We are continuously seeking alternative routes to enable delivery of all mail items, in liaison with main airlines operating from MIA and other trucking services operating in mainland Europe," the postal company told The Times Business.
"Backlog will be immediately delivered once airline connections return to normal or alternative connections including by road are arranged," it said.
In a statement issued on Tuesday evening, Maltapost said: "Outgoing mail is being processed normally and dispatched to the airport for it to start its outbound journey as soon as alternative routes become available, or flights resume. MaltaPost is continuing to deploy and review its contingency plans with the collaboration of various airlines, trucking services and foreign postal administrations, to keep as much of the customers' mail moving and delivered in the shortest time possible."
Meanwhile, Malta International Airport said it lost between 30,000 and 35,000 passengers over this last week. According to MIA's spokes-person, this represents a two-thirds decrease in passenger movements.