Malta is an important regional centre for both cruise and ferry activity. However, over the first half of 2013 the volume of business in this sector for Maltese ports was relatively disappointing. The cruise terminal handled 95 cruise ships, down from 129 in the first six months of 2012, while the number of ro-ro ferries fell from 163 to 114 in the first half of 2013. One of piece of good news though is the introduction, by Grimaldi Holdings, represented locally by the Gollcher Group, of a new passenger car ferry between Malta and Salerno, with a stop in Augusta, Sicily. This service got underway in June and has reintroduced a valuable link between Malta and mainland Italy, following the cessation of a number of passenger services, with the result that tourists and freight moving in both directions had to make long road journeys.
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