|
Dr Emanuele Grimaldi speaks to KURT SANSONE on why his shipping line will not be taking on all the workers at Sea Malta
The privatisation of Sea Malta remains an ongoing saga but according to the assessment of the Italian shipping line interested in purchasing the national sea carrier, the company has far too many employees and “only a part of them could find a job in a professionally managed and competitive company.”
The chief executive officer of Grimaldi Naples, Dr Emanuele Grimaldi, is adamant that if privatisation does go ahead, the Italian shipping line would not take on board all of Sea Malta’s employees.
It is common knowledge that Sea Malta has a number of extra employees working on the ground in its offices. But this newspaper can reveal that another bone of contention are the working conditions of the national company’s sea men.
When asked whether Grimaldi Naples will be honouring the working conditions enjoyed by seamen, Emanuele Grimaldi says that the company is ready to offer a contract “consistent with the regulations applicable to the other Maltese seafarers and according to standards outlined by ITF International Union.”
Grimaldi comments on what he claims are peculiar working conditions at Sea Malta and says these should be changed if they conflict with an efficient and flexible organisation.
Grimaldi says he will be ready to purchase the MV Maltese Falcon, over which the controversy erupted in the beginning of summer, at the agreed price. He also insists his company will offer Maltese industrialists a better service than Sea Malta.
Despite the controversy Emanuele Grimaldi says that his company is still interested in the purchase of Sea Malta but adds that if the process had to start all over again “they would not do it.”
“In order to put things into their proper perspective, one should consider that Sea Malta represents less than one per cent of our turnover. However, being already in the middle of a process we normally try to finalise things in the best possible way,” Grimaldi says.
The Italian ship owner paints a bleak picture of Sea Malta’s commercial operations and insists that the company is run at a loss because it is “too small and features an extremely high cost structure with far too many people employed.”
Grimaldi says the services rendered by Sea Malta are neither of a high standard nor economical. “Sea Malta’s tonnage is old and obsolete and M/V Zebbug is one of the oldest roro vessels in the world,” Grimaldi tells MaltaToday.
As an example he cites Grimaldi Naples’ own service operated to Salerno, which Grimaldi says is less expensive than Sea Malta’s shorter route operated from Reggio Calabria.
“Grimaldi runs competitive services all over the world but in a profitable way and this will be no exception with Sea Malta,” he says.
On the evaluation of the Maltese Falcon, Sea Malta’s flagship which was mired in controversy throughout the summer, Emanuele Grimaldi describes as “peculiar” the evaluation undertaken by Barry Rogliano Salles for Sea Malta. “It appears peculiar that an old ship, instead of depreciating in value from one year to another is re-evaluated upwards and furthermore that such re-evaluation was used to cover annual losses, which would be unlawful under many European legislations.”
Grimaldi says that the evaluation of the Maltese Falcon conducted for his company by an official who formerly handled Grimaldi Naple’s charters “was given in good faith by three of the world’s major shipbrokers.”
“The evaluation was consistent with that given to the Maltese government and the privatisation unit in the first place,” Emanuele Grimaldi says. The Italian company is ready to respect its commitment and purchase the Maltese Falcon at the “agreed price”, even though, he says, the vessel is “one year older and therefore less valuable.”
Another option Grimaldi says, would be for government to sell the Maltese Falcon at a higher price to somebody else, keeping the benefits to itself.
Speaking about his assurances to Maltese industrialists, Grimaldi says his company will offer industry a much better service because Sea Malta “will be integrated in a network of services that reach North America, South America, West Africa, Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.”
Grimaldi says that Sea Malta will benefit from the integration in the Euro-Med service of Grimaldi Naples, performed with 15 vessels and linking all the main ports in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. “Our group owns and operates over 60 vessels with an average age of four years. Sea Malta has only two vessels with an average age of 28 years. Therefore no comparison makes sense,” Grimaldi says.
As for the Opposition’s stand against the privatisation of Sea Malta, Grimaldi refuses to be dragged into a “political discussion”.
Talking about the ‘public interest’ cited by the Labour Party as a reason not to privatise Sea Malta, Grimaldi says: “However I am convinced that when Dr Sant speaks about the national interest he is certainly not referring to keeping in service obsolete vessels or to subsidise a company with public funds as this is forbidden by European competition rules. A shipping service may be public or private, competitive for clients or not competitive, performed with quality vessels or not. And we believe it is not true anymore, although it was widely believed in the past that those who perform a good service are bound to lose money. If we look at Sea Malta today, it is a public company, has old tonnage, and offers a low quality service, and it loses money. On the other hand, Grimaldi is a private company, performs good quality services, offers competitive rates and is profitable. As a consequence I am convinced that a private, competitive and profitable Sea Malta matches the public interest. Privatisation will lead to a network of integrated services which will put Malta at the heart of the Mediterranean and Europe.”
ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt
|
