Grimaldi’s CRUISE SMERALDA to Adria Ferries?

By | 2023 Newsletter week 35 | No Comments

The 1997-built ro-pax ferry CRUISE SMERALDA seems to be close to become a ship part of the Ancona-based Adria ferries fleet.

Market rumours, not confirmed but neither denied by the interested parties, say that Grimaldi Group is to sell the vessel currently deployed for Finnlines on the Malmö – Travemünde link to the Italian company active on the routes from the ports of Ancona and Bari to Albania.

CRUISE SMERALDA = 1,500 passengers | 2,200 lane meters.

Adria Ferries recorded very positive financial results in 2022 (EUR 68 million of revenues and EUR 18 million of profit) and has been looking for further tonnage at least for the last 12 months.

Grimaldi: Two new state-of-the-art ro-ro ships on the Venice – Bari – Patras line

By | 2023 Newsletter week 34 | No Comments

With the new state-of-the-art ro-ro ships, ECO CATANIA and ECO MALTA, the Italian Grimaldi Group launched zero-emission-in-port vessels in Patras, Venice and Bari at the end of June 2023.

Each of the two ‘GG5G’ class ships can carry around 500 trailers and 180 cars (7,800 lane meters), which is twice as much as their predecessors.

Photo: Grimaldi Group

Grimaldi deploys “green giants” on the Venice – Bari – Patras route

By | 2023 Newsletter week 26 | No Comments

Since June 26, the regular ro-ro line operated by Grimaldi Group between Venice, Bari and Patras is covered by two of the GG5G-series ro-ro ships: ECO CATANIA and ECO MALTA.

These vessels can offer much higher capacity (7,800 linear metres of freight, equivalent to around 500 trailers and 180 cars and better performances) than the Eurocargo-class ships that they replaced on the line.

The ro-ro traffic flows in the port of Venice grew by over 11% in 2022 according to the statistics released by the local port authority, and this trend has continued also in the first half of 2023.

The doubling of the capacity of the new ships compared to those previously operating will lead to a further increase in ro-ro cargo capacity on the Venice – Greece link.

Grimaldi unique bidder for the maritime continuity on the Civitavecchia – Arbatax – Cagliari route

By | 2023 Newsletter week 21 | No Comments
  • Following a public tender launched by the Italian transport ministry earlier this year, Grimaldi Euromed, company controlled by Grimaldi Group, emerged as the only bidder and so is very likely to prolong the subsidised maritime link on the route Civitavecchia – Arbatax – Cagliari.
  • Deadline for submitting offers was 5 May 2023 and binding price stood at EUR 42.4 million.
  • Grimaldi offered EUR 26.9 million for the next cycle of maritime continuity between the Italian mainland and Sardinia set to last three years.
  • The ro-pax vessel to be deployed on the line will be most likely the ferry CORFU.

Grimaldi – Minoan – EKEV signed the acquisition of a majority stake in the share capital of the Igoumenitsa Port Authority

By | 2023 Newsletter week 12 | No Comments

On 21 March 2023, the joint venture established by the companies Grimaldi Euromed S.p.A., Minoan Lines S.A. and Investment Construction Commercial And Industrial S.A. (EKEV SA) signed an agreement with the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF, the fund which manages the program of privatization of ports and other public assets in Greece and a member of GROWTHFUND – The National Fund of Greece) which provides for the purchase of a majority stake of 67% of the share capital of the Igoumenitsa Port Authority (IPA S.A.) for a total price of EUR 84.17 million.

The signature of the share purchase agreement takes place after the approval of the Court of Auditors, while the ratification of the concession agreement between the Greek State and IPA S.A. by the Greek Parliament is imminent.

The signing ceremony that took place at HRADF’s premises was attended, among others, by the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, Ioannis Plakiotakis, the Secretary General of Ports Port Policy and Maritime Investments, Evangelos Kyriazopoulos, the CEO of HRADF, Dimitris Politis, the President and Managing Director of Grimaldi Euromed S.p.A., Emanuele Grimaldi, the CEO of GROWTHFUND – The National Fund of Greece, Grigoris D. Dimitriadis, the Corporate Short Sea Commercial Director of the Grimaldi Group, Guido Grimaldi, the CEO of Minoan Lines, Loukas Sigalas, The Chairman and Managing Director of EKEV S.A., Athanasios Koulouris, the President and Managing Director of the Igoumenitsa Port Holding Company S.A., Paul Kyprianou, the CEO of IPA S.A., Athanasios Porfyris, the Member of Parliament for Thesprotia, Vasileios Giogiakas, the Mayor of Igoumenitsa, Ioannis Lolos and the Mayor of Filiates, Spyridon Pappas.

4th Grimaldi ship for Venice – Greece route

By | 2023 Newsletter week 11 | No Comments

Speaking at the Let Expo exhibition held in Verona, the Commercial Director of Grimaldi Euromed, Guido Grimaldi, announced that a fourth ro-ro ship has been deployed by the company on the maritime link offered between North Adriatic, Southern Italy and Greece.

More specifically, the ports of Venice, Bari and Patras are now linked with four ferries, offering six sailings per week.  Each ro-ro unit has a capacity to transport up to 250 trailers each.

A second ship on this line had been deployed by Grimaldi in 2016 and the third in 2021. Now it’s time for the fourth vessel.

Photo: Grimaldi Lines

Grimaldi to become ro-ro terminal operator in the port of Ravenna

By | 2023 Newsletter week 6 | No Comments

The port of Ravenna, in Italy, is to become one of the most important hubs for Grimaldi Group’s network in the Adriatic Sea.

The Naples-based shipping company is in advanced negotiations with the local port authority for setting up a new port terminal in Ravenna which is regularly called by Grimaldi’s ro-ro ship on the motorways of the seas to and from the other Italian ports of Brindisi and Catania.

Up to date the ro-ro traffic was and still is handled by a company called T. & C. – Traghetti e Crociere S.R.L and fully owned by the port authority but this company will stop acting as a terminal operator as soon as Grimaldi will be ready to operate with its in-house branch.

Last year the port of Ravenna’s total throughput of trailer handled was 80,595 (+6.4% compared with 2021) or 1,818,670 in terms of tons (+25.7%).

Grimaldi acquires a new terminal in the port of Amsterdam

By | 2023 Newsletter week 6 | No Comments

The Group now owns an area of ​​over 200,000 m2 and a twenty-year concession within the Dutch port

Through its subsidiary Amsterdam Multipurpose Terminal (AMT), the Grimaldi Group has recently gained strategic assets and a 20-year concession within the port of Amsterdam.

The assets that AMT bought from the company EMA are located in the Amerikahaven area and cover a surface of over 200,000 m2, including storage areas, adjacent warehouses and logistics areas, as well as two quays – the first, which is about 500 meters long, dedicated to ships deployed on deep sea routes, and the second, about 300 meters long, for the berthing of vessels serving short sea links.

Not only is Amsterdam an extremely important port for cocoa exports from West Africa to Europe: the Grimaldi Group aims to make the most of its strategic location, transforming it into the gateway for imports of new vehicles, as well as for their distribution in Northern Europe.

Map: BoH – Eigen werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12452593

Grimaldi filed an opposition to the approval of Moby’s financial restructuring plan

By | 2023 Newsletter week 5 | No Comments

A statement from Moby published on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange [Bourse.lu] announced that competitor Grimaldi Euromed filed an opposition in the Court of Appeal to the approval of the Moby creditor’s composition plan “with an action once again aimed at preventing the continuation of the composition plan approved with the positive vote expressed by approx. 90% of Moby creditors and homologated by the Court of Milan on November 24, 2022.”

This new action is being brought by Grimaldi “despite the fact that the Court of Milan has

rejected in its entirety the previous opposition to the homologation, even declaring it unfounded, condemning Grimaldi to pay the judicial costs,” Moby stated.

The next hearing in front of the Court of Appel will be held on 2 March 2023.

The Vincenzo Onorato – controlled company concluded by saying: “Against this further legal action brought by Grimaldi, already rejected in the first instance, the Company is evaluating in appropriate legal venues any legal action aimed at defending its restructuring plan and the work of its employees.”