This section focuses on sea transport in the Maltese Islands. Statistics on vessels, including vessels’ registration data, is provided. This section also includes data on yacht arrivals, yacht ports and respective capacity; data on fishing vessels and cruise liners is also provided. This section concludes with statistics on sea transport between Malta and Gozo, and between Valletta and Sliema and the Three Cities.
Last Updated: 06 January 2026
Salient Points
In 2024…
…the average rate of passengers and vehicles per trip crossing between Malta and Gozo amounted to 155 and 47 respectively.
…passengers carried between Valletta and The Three Cities totalled 704,849, while those carried between Valletta and Sliema totalled 942,722.
Sea Transport between Malta and Gozo
Charts
2.3.1. Distribution of passengers by type of transport between Malta and Gozo
Reference year: 2024
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2.3.2. Passengers and vehicles to and from Ċirkewwa and Mġarr
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Ċirkewwa Route
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Mġarr Route
2.3.3. Vehicles to and from Ċirkewwa and Mġarr by day of the week
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Ċirkewwa
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Mġarr
2.3.4. Passengers to and from Ċirkewwa and Mġarr by day of the week
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Ċirkewwa
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Mġarr
2.3.5. Passengers carried by ferry between Marsamxett (Valletta) and the Three Cities
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2.3.6. Passengers carried by ferry between Marsamxett (Valletta) and Sliema
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Tables
Maps
Methodological Notes
1. The source of the data included in this publication is administrative information provided by the Gozo Channel Co. Ltd and Transport Malta.
2. The fast ferry service operating between Mġarr and Valletta commenced on 1 June 2021.
3. The table below illustrates the vehicle and passenger capacity of each Gozo Channel vessel:
Carrying capacity
| Vessel | Other Vehicles | Passengers |
|---|---|---|
| MV Gaudos | 72 | 900 |
| MV Malita | 138 | 900 |
| MV Ta' Pinu | 138 | 900 |
| MV Nikolaos | 160 | 650 (Summer)/ 350 (Winter) |
Periods when vessels were out of service for docking purposes:
MV Gaudos: 06/01/2016-27/01/2016, 13/11/2017-30/11/2017, 04/01/2021-11/02/2021 and 08/11/2023-30/11/2023.
MV Malita: 09/01/2017-02/02/2017, 14/02/2017-17/02/2017, 08/05/2017-09/05/2017, 07/05/2018-11/05/2018, 09/01/2019-31/01/2019, 06/02/2019-13/02/2019, 07/03/2019-08/03/2019, 25/11/2019-02/12/2019, 06/01/2022-10/02/2022 and 09/01/2024-30/01/2024.
MV Ta’ Pinu: 03/10/2017-05/10/2017, 08/01/2018-30/01/2018, 06/01/2020-10/02/2020, 09/01/2023-02/02/2023 and 27/02/2023-02/03/2023.
MV Nikolaos started operating on 13/06/2019.
MV Nikolaos was put temporarily out of service between 27/04/2020-02/07/2020, 25/04/2022-29/05/2022, 18/04/2023-26/04/2023 and 15/02/2024-25/03/2024.
4. The table below illustrates the passenger capacity of each fast ferry service vessel:
Carrying Capacity
| Vessel | Vehicles |
|---|---|
| Your Wisdom (Gozo Fast Ferry Ltd) | 296 |
| Your Faith (Gozo Fast Ferry Ltd) | 296 |
| San Pawl (Virtu Ferries Ltd)* | 316 |
| San Franġisk (Virtu Ferries Ltd) | 316 |
| Gozo Express (Virtu Ferries Ltd)* | 308 |
*The fast ferry service vessel, Gozo Express (Virtu Ferries Ltd) replaced San Pawl (Virtu Ferries Ltd) on 17/05/2022.
5. Data for passengers travelling between Mġarr and Ċirkewwa comprises: foot and vehicle passengers and vehicle drivers. The fast ferry service does not allow for the transport of vehicles, only foot passengers are included.
6. The two service providers (Gozo Fast Ferry and Virtu Ferries) merged as of Q3/2024 and are providing service under one company, namely Gozo High Speed.
7. Different approaches to data collection are being applied at the Mġarr and Ċirkewwa harbours with regards to the Gozo Channel service. Data source for the Mġarr side includes Automated Ticketing System (ATS), while on the other hand data for the Ċirkewwa side is dependent on the manual clicking system.
8. Data for ferry passengers between Marsamxett (Valletta) and the Three Cities and Marsamxett (Valletta) and Sliema comprises the number of tickets sold by the ferry operator while passengers are embarking the vessel.
9. Data is subject to revision.
