Coronavirus: Malta Maritime Forum calls out government for being ‘overlooked’ in aid package

The Malta Maritime Forum has called out the government for being “overlooked” in the business support measures announced last week.

“Relegating such a forceful economic motor to an assistance of a day’s salary per week per employee week is an injustice to the industry and shows a detachment of the policy maker from the reality on the ground,” the forum said.

The forum said that the maritime industry accounts for nearly 23,000 jobs, whose added value to the economy reaches an estimated €2 billion per year, translating to around 7% to the total domestic economy.

The forum said that the decision to class the maritime industry as “less affected” by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, as “unfortunate and unfair”.

According to the maritime forum the decision is unfortunate because economic support during a crisis should not be based on a NACE classification, and unfair because the decision is “symptomatic” of the low esteem directed towards the industry.

“Our forum was not consulted at any stage, nor invited to sit at the negotiation table together with the other social partners and hence our voice was not heard,” a statement read.

The forum also said that people’s investment in the maritime industry should not be sacrificed “because of a storm that is blowing over our islands and the rest of the world.”

The forum called on government to further assist the industry, whose activity has dropped below 50% in a month.

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