Ponte Ferries announces it is pausing operations for winter without explaining why

Ponte Ferries on Wednesday announced that it will pause operations for the winter months, starting end September.

The company gave no reasons for the “pause” in service in a statement issued today. Just last week, passengers took to social media to complain about a scheduled service being cancelled while they had already boarded.

Passengers also complained that the service between Malta and Sicily was taking longer then advertised, with commentators stating that the vessel used requires maintenance which could not take place during the busy summer period.

Since its start of operations last May, Ponte Ferries says it has carried more than 32,000 passengers and over 6,000 vehicles between the ports of Valletta and Augusta in Sicily, following the award of a maritime concession to operate on this route.

The operator’s launch had been delayed several times due to legal challenges.

“Over the past months, Ponte Ferries focused on providing a long awaited alternative travel to Sicily by off­ering attractive prices for families, holiday makers, and cargo operators alike,” the company said in a statement.

“We are proud to have successfully achieved this milestone” a company spokesperson said.

“People have responded positively to the introduction of competition between Malta and Sicily. We would like to wholeheartedly thank all those who used our services, also those travellers whose travelling plans were somehow changed due to the isolated operational stop we had last week. We are proud that our team has intervened and provided immediate alternatives. In general Ponte has received very good, positively constructive feedback from those travelling us be them holiday makers or cargo operators”, the company spokesperson concluded.