The entrepreneurial vein of Michael Zammit was amply evident also in his son Eucharist. It was during the difficult years of the late 1930′s and early 1940′s that Eucharist joined in his father’s business and started to lay the basis of the now Zammit Group of Companies. During these years, in addition to being one of the leading importers and traders of cereals, foodstuffs, fodder and live stocks, the Zammits were appointed as one of the main suppliers to the British Forces on the Island and young Eucharist worked incessantly hard to fulfil their supply commitments to the British Garrison stationed in Malta in spite of the untold difficult circumstances of the time. They were also responsible for the importation of seed potatoes from Holland and N. Ireland which would be distributed to local farmers for them to grow and then re-export to the United Kingdom and Holland.
During the early fifties, Eucharist took over his father’s business and in 1957, he reorganised the business and operated under the trade name of E. Zammit & Co. It was about this time that he undertook the passenger and car ferry services between the Maltese Islands, a tender which was won against stiff competition. This service continued to be run by E. Zammit & Co. with annual tenders being won up to 1979 when the Government of the time decided to set up the Gozo Channel Co. Limited to run the service as a parastatal company. The Group retained substantial shareholding in this company till 1998.
In the early sixties, Eucharist decided that is was time that his sons joined him in his enterprise and E. Zammit & Co. was reconstituted and registered as a limited liability company with Mr. Zammit and his sons as the shareholders.
The 1960′s saw the arrival of the US Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet (the 6th Fleet) in Malta, and the Zammits were awarded the contracts for the provision of all the fleet’s daily requirements and port services. This agreement lasted till the fleet’s departure from Malta in the early 1970′s.
The business’s increasing dependence on international trade reinforced the family’s intentions to extend their interests in the marine industry. Various types of vessels including freighters, passenger carriers, dredgers and tugboats have been bought, managed, chartered and sold. In fact, for a time in the 1980′s the Zammit also operated a passenger ferry service in the Middle East.
