The Port of Cruises Valletta, together with local authorities and partners, has worked on developing COVID-19 Cruise Operational Guidelines for the safe continuation of cruising in Valletta, with the aim of facilitating operations during this transition phase. These operational guidelines have been prepared and submitted to the health authorities and have recently been approved.
The document merges the plans, procedures, and operational guidelines of the Port of Valletta with cruise line protocols to ensure the safe continuation of cruises. Any port of call in Malta must adhere to these guidelines.
Stephen Xuereb, Managing Director of the Port of Valletta Cruises and Chief Operating Officer of Global Ports Holding, commented: “These have been challenging times for the cruise community, but the industry is clearly nearing a restart. After months of work, we are pleased to share these guidelines with cruise lines and look forward to welcoming cruise ships, their passengers, and crew back to Valletta.”
As part of Global Ports Holdings (GPH), the Port of Valletta Cruises began working to ensure health and safety on cruise ships in the post-COVID era as early as January 2020, when the first signs of the pandemic appeared. The measures taken included a review of the Emergency Response Plans and Health and Safety Protocols of all 19 ports in the GPH network. Furthermore, the Port of Valletta Cruises received the World Travel & Tourism Council's Safe Travels stamp for its enhanced protocols. Thanks to this process, the Port of Valletta Cruises was well-prepared to welcome back its first cruise ship calls last August, with weekly calls since then.
Valletta Cruise is also supporting an initiative led by Infrastructure Malta and Transport Malta to develop onshore electrical infrastructure to supply electricity to the five main cruise ship piers by the end of 2023. Work has already begun to equip each pier with onshore transformers and shore-to-ship connection panels that will allow ships to switch off their combustion engines and run on electricity as soon as they dock.
