Reference is made to the Talking Point (October 31) penned by Christian Magro, director of Islands Ferry Network Ltd.
The issue of whether or not a Preliminary Market Consultation (PMC) issued by Gozo Channel, can result in the acquisition of a service from a provider in return for a consideration, and the issue of whether or not it is permissible for such a provider to be an entity that does not satisfy the minimum financial and technical criteria in the tender as specifically referred to in the Preliminary Market Consultation are sub judice.
There are currently no less than four separate proceedings, three before the Court of Appeal and one before the First Hall of the Civil Courts all instituted by Virtu Holdings Limited. Virtu will leave no stone unturned in order to ensure that justice prevails.
To this end, Virtu has also filed an application requesting the Court of Appeal to consider requesting guidance from the European Court of Justice on the interpretation of a number of EU law provisions in the realm of public procurement.
Virtu have and will present their position in court leading ultimately to the judgments. Virtu therefore will not give in to the great temptation of entering into the merits of the claims currently before those courts.
In the meantime, however, we cannot allow Islands Ferry Network to muddy the waters by either rewriting history or by advising the public (in the hope of wooing or swaying it) on matters which are totally irrelevant to the matter of the choice of a partner for Gozo Channel “to meet the applicable specifications, requirements and criteria applicable to the fast ferry services as required by the tender”. These are the words of the PMC, not of Virtu.
The fact that Magro is clearly very proud to be Gozitan, as indeed he should be, the fact that he is a regular user of the current Gozo-Malta service, the fact that Magro Bros is primarily an award-winning food processing company, the fact that Fortina Investments operates a successful pleasure boat and open-top bus service, all these things do nothing in terms of bringing Islands Ferry Network remotely close to satisfying the minimum criteria set out in the tender for the operation of the fast ferry service.
We expect the rules of the game to be followed and to be applied
The last time that Virtu Holdings looked at the minimum financial and technical requirements to operate a fast ferry service, one of the most highly-regulated maritime sectors, none of these no doubt very interesting facts featured in the required minimum financial and technical criteria.
Magro also referred to the first public call for the fast ferry service which was made in April of 2017. Virtu was the successful bidder having passed and even exceeded the financial and technical criteria. However, this notwithstanding, that tender was mysteriously terminated and a new one issued in 2018 – the current one.
Importantly, we would like to point out to Magro that he is wrong when he says that “Virtu proposed leasing to Gozo Channel an old ferry (without crew) built in 1989”. Evidently, the person from whom Magro sourced what was supposed to be confidential tender submission information, gave him the wrong information on Virtu’s bid. In fact, in that tender Virtu had proposed a new vessel specifically designed for the Malta-Gozo route, offered on Bimco Ropaxtime time charter basis, which translated for his benefit, is “including crew”. We also proposed the immediate use one of our IMO-compliant vessels until delivery of the new vessel.
Virtu carries one million passengers, and 140,000 cars annually on seven international fast ferry routes in six countries and one does not need to remind Magro that it is an international operator of fast ferries, which only operates state-of-the-art fast ferries, in possession of a document of compliance, fully certified for international safety management purposes, under the rigorous provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. Something which, by the way, Islands Ferry Network is not. Clearly Magro, who, of course, has a right to his opinion, does not seem to think that this is remotely important or else he seems to think that the experience in successfully operating in the food processing industry is a more important criteria in the choice of a fast ferry operator.
Finally, Virtu, does not feel it has a “divine right to be selected for this service and maintain its monopoly in this field” at all. What monopoly is Magro referring to?
Virtu has never had the privilege of running any form of service carrying either passengers or cargo between Malta and Gozo. Thus, Virtu does not have any “divine right” expectations of any sort. The only legitimate expectation Virtu has is that when we compete in a process that is governed by Maltese and European law, open to competitors from the entire European Union, as Virtu has done in other countries successfully, we do expect the rules of the game to be followed and to be applied.
Virtu will do its utmost to ensure that this does happen.
Matthew Portelli is director, Virtu Holdings Limited.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece