The Hard Standing Facility is situated in the fishing village of Marsaxlokk. The HSF comprises of a dry standing area of circa 6000sq.mts with maximum hoisting capacity of 250tonnes. The HSF has been developed and has been in operation since July 2007. Due to the individual growth in gross tonnage of the Maltese fishing fleet the HSF has been developed with the aim of providing fishermen with the possibility of maintaining their fishing vessels in Malta rather than resort to other nearby countries such as Sicily and Tunisia.
The HSF has two straddle type hoists one of maximum capacity of 50tonnes which is used for smaller vessels and the other of maximum capacity of 250tonnes for larger vessels. The HSF offers dry standing services to fishing vessels in the categories MFA, MFB MFC and MFD in the Fishing fleet register, and fishing vessels registered in EU Member States, government owned vessels and pilot vessels.