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Jul 12
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Emanuele Grimaldi Awarded As Commander Of The Order Of The Lion Of Finland

By | 2018 Newsletter week 28 | No Comments

During a short ceremony held on the 4th of July in Rome, Emanuele Grimaldi, Managing Director of the Grimaldi Group and President and CEO of the subsidiary company Finnlines, received the honor of Commander of the Order of the Lion of the Republic of Finland.

The Ambassador of Finland in Italy, Janne Taalas, declared that the award, conferred by the President of the Republic of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, is a recognition for the great commitment of Emanuele Grimaldi, through the company Finnlines, in developing maritime transport to and from Finland which is of great support to the economy.

May 03
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FERRY SHIPPING

By | 2018 Newsletter Week 18 | No Comments

Grimaldi Orders Six Mega Ro-Ro Ships

 

The Grimaldi Group has signed an agreement for the building of six “GG5G” ro-ro vessels, for a total investment worth over USD 400 million.

  • Shipyard: Jinling, China
  • Design: Grimaldi Group and Knud E. Hansen
  • Length 238m
  • Gross tonnage 64,000
  • Lane meters 7,800 (500 trailers)
  • Hybrid: fossil fuel at sea and mega lithium batteries for use in port. Batteries will be recharged at sea through shaft generators and solar panels.
  • Hull: Air lubrication
  • Scrubber
  • Three vessels for Grimaldi Lines in the Mediterranean.
  • Three ice-class vessels for Finnlines in the Baltic.
  • Delivery as from 2020.
More info on the Knud E. Hansen website
May 03
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The Mediterranean Reshuffle And Consolidation Continues As Expected, Almost

By | 2018 Newsletter Week 18 | No Comments

Last week has seen a series of decisions being taken, which all impact the Mediterranean ferry scene. An overview:

  • Caronte & Tourist have announced that the “New TTT Lines” Naples – Catania service has been closed on April 23.
  • New TTT Lines operated two Visentini ro-pax ferries, the FLORENCIA, on charter from Grimaldi, and the CARTOUR GAMMA. Grimaldi has now acquired the CARTOUR GAMMA, and will put her together with the FLORENCIA on the route from Brindisi to Greece (Igoumenitsa and Patras).
  • The New TTT Line seafarers who lost their jobs have been protesting against the closure. Grimaldi obviously needs crew for the routes to Greece, but not all are prepared to switch from Naples to the Adriatic side. At an event organized in Sorrento Emanuele Grimaldi said he would need up to 1,000 seafarers extra for all his upcoming ships.
  • Grimaldi has transferred the EUROFERRY EGNAZIA and EUROFERRY OLYMPIA from the Adriatic to run between Salerno (instead of Naples) and Catania.
  • Grimaldi asked the Naples Port Authority for a concession for a dock. As long as this concession is not granted Grimaldi will operate from Salerno.

 

  • The Greek antitrust authority has given the green light to Attica to acquire Grimaldi Group’s 53% stake in Hellenic Seaways for EUR 78.5 million. See Attica’s press release on April 26.
  • Part of the Hellenic Seaways deal is the transfer of two ferries from Attica to the Grimaldi Group: SUPERFAST XII will go to Grimaldi (EUR 74.5m), and HIGHSPEED 7 will be integrated in the fleet of Minoan Lines (EUR 25m).
Jan 25
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“No Marebonus for shipowners with old tonnage”

By | 2018 Newsletter Week 04 | No Comments

According to www.informazionimarittime.it, Mr Emanuele Grimaldi said that subsidies and incentives should not be given to companies operating ferries of 40, 50 years old. He said that at a Short Sea Shipping convention in Civitavecchia. The Italian Government has a plan named “Connect Italy”, where the aim is to invest up to €123 billion in more than 100 projects.
Mr Grimaldi said it was important and fair to look at ferry companies, which did invest a lot in environmental-friendly ships.

Photo: for illustration purpose only

The official 72-page brochure 'Connettere l'Italia" can be downloaded here. It is in Italian.
Nov 09
1

SHORT NEWS

By | 2017 Newsletter week 45 | No Comments
  • BC Ferries’ NORTHERN SEA WOLF, the small car ferry acquired for the new route from Port Hardy – Bella Coola, is on its way to British Columbia. Formerly known as AQUA SPIRIT she departed from the port of Piraeus on November 3 for the 10,097 nautical mile journey to her new home in British Columbia.
  • High-speed ferry KRILO ECLIPSE arrived under tow in Piraeus. After one season in Croatia, she has been bought by Golden Star Ferries. Her new name will be SUPERSPEED.
  • Grimaldi Group was awarded the “Leadership Excellence Award” by the US-based Panorama magazine. During a three-day event Italian excellence was introduced to an American audience.
  • Faergen has sold ro-pax HAMMERODDE to Stena RoRo. However, it will continue to operate between Køge and Bornholm until 1 September 2018, when Molslinjen takes over the service from Faergen. Which plans Stena has for the ship is unknown.
Nov 02
0

Deal between Attica and Grimaldi Group consolidates Greek ferry scene

By | 2017 Newsletter week 44 | No Comments

The fight for the ownership of Hellenic Seaways (HSW) is over. Attica Holdings and Grimaldi Group have reached an agreement on October 26, where HSW will be almost fully owned by Attica

  • Minoan Lines, a Grimaldi Group company, will transfer all its HSW shares (48.53%) to Attica Holdings, for €78.5 million. The latter already became the majority shareholder in August when acquiring 50.3% of the share capital from Piraeus Bank.
  • Attica Ferries Maritime Company will sell ro-pax SUPERFAST XII to a company within the Grimaldi Group. Price tag: €74,5 million. The SUPERFAST XII is currently operating on the long route Piraeus – Patmos – Leros – Kalymnos – Kos – Rhodes & Syros – Katapola, for the Blue Star Ferries brand.
  • Fast (car) ferry HIGHSPEED 7 will change hands from Hellenic Seaways to Minoan Lines for €25 million. HIGHSPEED 7 operates from Heraklion to Santorini
  • The completion of the deal will need to be approved by the Greek competition authority.

This deal is the most logic solution for the control over HSW, where two competitors basically both owned half of the company, with Attica at a small advantage. There was only one way: either Grimaldi, or Attica had to become the sole owner.

Now that Attica fully controls HSW, it will certainly create a high degree of rationalization on the Greek domestic routes. Attica/HSW will have the Aegean, and Grimaldi Group will –via Minoan Lines– have the Crete routes to Piraeus and Santorini / Cyclades. Grimaldi gets money to invest, and gets two modern ships.

Attica/HSW will now be able to reshuffle ships and routes for a better utilization. This economy of scale will be something attractive for investors. The domestic horizon will change, for sure.
It is noteworthy to remember that Attica also has a cooperation with ANEK Lines, on Crete (Heraklion and Chania, the headquarters of ANEK) and in the Adriatic. Could this cooperation develop further? Time will tell.

Part of the deal is the sale of the SUPERFAST XII to a company within the Grimaldi Group. This ro-pax was built in 2002 bij Flender Werft, Lübeck.

Photos © Mike Louagie

Oct 05
0

Ro-pax FINNEAGLE from Finnlines to Grimaldi Group

By | 2017 Newsletter week 40 | No Comments

Finnlines Plc has sold the ro-pax vessel FINNEAGLE to the Grimaldi Group following a strategy “to optimise the use of Finnlines’ vessels and routes in order to improve its profitability.”
The 1999-built FINNEAGLE was chartered out to the Grimaldi Group from June 2017. The delivery of the 2,459 lane meter vessel to the Grimaldi Group will take place this month. She is currently in drydock in Gdansk.

Photo: FINNTIDE (for lengthening) and FINNEAGLE in Gdansk © Jakub Bogucki

Oct 05
0

Grimaldi Group to order ten new ro-ro’s and to lengthen two ro-pax ferries.

By | 2017 Newsletter week 40 | No Comments

Emanuele Grimaldi is going to practice what he has been preaching, by ordering ten environmental-friendly ro-ro ships. An order for six will have an option for four, and several Chinese yards are in the running. That is what he announced at the 21st EuroMed conference.
The ships will have underwater air lubrication technology, scrubbers and will be hybrid. Indeed, they will be equipped with lithium batteries, which will allow switching off the engines when in port.

In the last four years, the group already invested two billion euros in 25 new ships, and 300 million euros to make the existing fleet and operations greener. CO2 was reduced by 9% in six years, and sulfur emissions were reduced by 24%, said Grimaldi at the opening of the conference.

Additionally it was announced that capacity of CRUISE ROMA and CRUISE BARCELONA is going to be enhanced by lengthening. This will probably be done by Fincantieri in Palermo, a yard with a large experience in this field after the lengthening of four MSC cruise ships. The final details of the contract still need fine-tuning. The vessels will also receive a “lithium-upgrade”.
Passenger capacity will rise from 3,000 to 3,500.

Photo: CRUISE ROMA © Mike Louagie

Sep 07
0

Hellenic Seaways case will have to be investigated by Brussels

By | 2017 Newsletter week 36 | No Comments

Grimaldi Group’s boss Emanuele Grimaldi says the acquisition of 50.3% of Hellenic Seaways (HSW) by Attica Group, is against the European competition rules. A complaint will be filed to the ‘Directorate General Competition’ of the European Commission.

Grimaldi Group, already owning 48.53% of HSW was hoping to become the majority shareholder. Until Attica made an agreement with Piraeus Bank (40.5%) and some smaller shareholders, in August. With this acquisition Attica, already operating Blue Star Ferries and Superfast Ferries, is doubling its fleet. Grimaldi, who also controls Minoan Lines (95%), sees this as a threat to fair competition.

Link to Aticca's announcement of 11/8