The number of passengers travelling by ship between Malta and Sicily have continued to grow and now exceed pre-pandemic levels, says Virtu, the company operating the sole ferry link between the two islands.

It is forecasting a return to profitability in 2023 on the back of increasing passenger numbers on the route and strong freight demand after two years posting losses.

The strong demand for ferry passage between Malta and Sicily saw Virtu complete 1,414 trips in 2022, more than the initially scheduled 1,342 – exceeding the 1,072 trips made in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, by a wide margin.

The company said it is “noteworthy to highlight that the deployment of a second vessel on the route with different timings contributed to the increase in demand.”

The pandemic hit the company hard, with inbound tourists by sea falling from 51,212 in 2019 to 18,579 in 2020, before mounting a muted recovery in 2021 to 24,189. However, 2022 saw a marked increase in activity, with tourists entering the Maltese Islands by sea reaching 55,108.

Virtu notes that “this trend continued this year [2023] with more than 11,000 inbound tourists by sea recorded in the first quarter of 2023, exceeding the levels seen in 2022.”

In its financial analysis for the current year, group finance vehicle Virtu Finance plc says that the entry into force of a public service obligation (PSO) for the fast ferry route between Malta and Gozo is expected to leave a material improvement in income.

Freight-related demand is also expected to be strong.

Operating expenditure increased by 40.9 per cent in 2022, largely reflecting the surge in fuel costs following the imposition of sanctions and restrictions on fuel exports from Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.

Virtu explained that although it partly recovered the increased fuel costs through the fuel surcharge mechanism and a bunker rebate scheme as approved by the EU, the peak in fuel prices seen in the summer of 2022 was not passed on to customers in its entirety.

In fact, the company incurred operational losses during this period.

Fuel costs subsequently abated – albeit remaining elevated – and security of supply improved.

For 2023, performance is expected to continue improving, also through to strong demand for its chartering services.

Total revenue is expected to increase by 23 per cent, to €51.5 million, while pre-tax profits are forecast at €6.7 million, in contrast to the pre-tax losses registered in the preceding two financial years of €0.8 million in 2022 and €6.4 million in 2021.