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
