Gozo Channel has after years of delay published a call for tenders for the supply of a fourth ferry.
The contract is for one year and is valued at a total of €3.5 million excluding VAT, the same price currently being paid to the owners of the Greek MV Nikolaos, and with the same tight deadlines that saw the last attempt fail in what some say was an intentionally orchestrated move.
The contract – a Public Service Obligation for the transport of passengers, vehicles and goods between Malta and Gozo – has been in the making for over five years and it will be able to be renewed for two further six-month periods.
Bids will be opened on 29 August and the chosen operator will need, according to the tender document, to begin operations not later than four weeks from the signing of the contract, which will go to the cheapest offer that satisfies administrative and technical criteria.
The new tender follows a disastrous attempt last November when no bids were lodged after bidders appeared to have smelled a rat.
The owners of the current operators of the fourth ferry – Ionies Grammes Shipping Company, which operates ferry crossings between various ports in Corfu and other small Greek islands – opted to not even participate because it appeared to have been deliberately impractical.
Gozo Channel issued its new tender for the lease of a passenger ferry last November, but the fact that it stipulated the new service would have to be up and running within the space of a mere two months was considered as being highly impracticable for anyone but the incumbent contract holders.
By the looks of the new tender, the timeframe appears to be pretty much the same, with the winning bidder being obliged to start the service within a month of signing the contract and with tenders being opened in around five weeks from now.
The current 35-year-old Ro-Ro passenger ship has been serving as Gozo Channel’s fourth vessel since 2019 at a cost of approximately €8,000 a day in the off-peak months and €12,000 a day during peak months. Gozo Channel bears the fuel costs.
The 2011 Public Service Obligation (PSO) agreement, which had the European Commission’s blessing, elapsed in 2017 but a new tender was not issued until November 2022.
The last tender, which closed on 15 December without a single bid being placed, was described as “a joke” by sources close to Gozo Channel who spoke to The Shift, who say the tender’s impractical terms were drawn up for the Greeks to stay on board.
The two-month deadline was highly implausible, and Gozo Channel had not even specified a maximum vessel age in the tender to limit competition with Ionies Grammes Shipping Company’s ageing ship.
Gozo Channel has been chartering the MV Nikolaos since 2019 through a direct order in breach of EU procurement rules The European Commission, which is meant to approve all subsidies given concerning Public Service Obligations, had been pushing for the tender for three years and has even threatened the government that it would begin infringement proceedings over the issue.
But by publishing the tender as late in the day as possible last November, and as appears to be the case this time around, no potential bidders were enticed to make an offer.
Gozo Channel had to issue a new direct order for the incumbent Greek shipping company with the argument to the European Commission that it had tried but the tender had been unsuccessful.
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#Ionies Grammes Shipping Company
#MV Nikolaos
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m.v. Nikolaos will be 36 years old this year.
This means that it has exceeded the 35 year age limit that the EU imposes on passenger Ro-Ro vessels.
That is why it is no longer allowed to operate at full capacity.
Due to a number of accidents involving older vessels, Greece has an even stricter 30 year age limit for Ro-Ro vessels.
Who cares how old the ship is? Whoever is contracting them is pocketing money. No ifs or buts!!
They don?t give two hoots as to whether the passengers are well served or not as long as they continue to get rich off our backs!
With the money being spent, a new modern ship Worthy if it’s passengers.could have been built.
I am sure there must be BUT!!??
Nikolaos not good enough, no lift and most importantly arrogant staff, we citizens deserve better.
Smells of rotting fish !!! So ?8000 a day since 2017 adds up to more than ?17,500,000 for an impractical passenger ship that was scrapped before 2017!! Not to mention that that’s without fuel expenses! How much would building a brand new ship, similar to the ones that were built under the PN administration cost nowadays?? What would have happened if back than, the PN decided to rent 3 ships instead of building new ones and at the same time helping the Maltese shipbuilding industry!? How many million upon millions would have been wasted ??
I cannot say anything re the staff, though it is a disgrace that there are no lifts for the old ,disabled, mothers to be or with prams children and luggage, It is a shame at these time and age that our gov prefers to keep this ship when its time up was due years ago. With all the money spent it could have been invested it in a new modern and comfortable ferry for all. Though PL have always had sub standard projects as they say that they are there for the people but it is nothing of the sort, Their mission is commission and could not care less about any one else.
This Gov is the rotten keeper of the Maltese coffer , They squander our taxes as though it was their own, in underhanded deals some of which have failed miserably This is one example.