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  Weekend Operations |
08/02/2005 |
Weekend Operations
During the Carnival weekend, as anticipated, Gozo experienced very heavy traffic. In order to minimize the inconvenience, the Company mobilised all its three vessels, in order to be in a position to operate a shuttle service as from mid morning to late evening between Friday and Sunday, as and when required.
Heavy traffic was experienced from Cirkewwa since Friday noon. During that day, 2,361 vehicles and 6,641 passengers crossed over, practically repeating last years’ figures. However, Saturday experienced a higher inflow of vehicles crossing over to Gozo, with 2,580 vehicles and 8,422 passengers crossing over this year, as against last year’s 2,158 and 7,678 respectively.
Another positive note from the statistics shows that, during these two days, less traffic to Malta was registered (1,547 vehicles and 5,544 pax this year, as against 1,715 and 6,718 in respect of last year), thus more people probably opting for a longer stay in Gozo.
However, the higher traffic and the longer stay resulted in an all time record of vehicles returning on Sunday, when our vessels carried 3,195 vehicles and 10,002 passengers back to Malta. This represents an increase of over 30% in vehicle traffic and 26% in passengers compared to the corresponding figures registered for Carnival last year.
Such a heavy demand inevitably led to long queuing for those wishing to return home. Inevitably, demand far outstripped supply, and unfortunately the waiting time was sometimes substantial. The Company’s flagship, the MV Malita, was operating with both hoistable decks in operation since noon, carrying around 150 cars in every trip, and an extra 12 round trips were performed by the fleet. Heavy traffic continued till late at night, when the MV Malita carried a full load of vehicles at 23:15 hours, the MV Ta’Pinu another 82 cars at 23:26 hours and the MV Gaudos again carried a full load (84 cars) at midnight, when the situation returned to normal.
Speaking about the weekend’s experience, Gozo Channel’s Chairman Mr Maurice Zarb Adami stated “The Company would like to apologize for any inconvenience the increased waiting time may have caused to our customers due to the heavy traffic registered. Whilst all the Company’s resources were mobilized to cope with the anticipated demand, the fleet’s carrying capacity of around 300 vehicles per hour did not suffice, and as a result queues accumulated and waiting times increased. And I would like to thank all our employees, and the policemen on duty, who all worked hard to manage the situation and reduce the inconvenience which the long queues and waiting times caused.”
Marvic Fenech Adami
General Manager
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