Grande America News

This year has already seen an alarming number of container ship fires including Yantian Express, APL Vancouver, Grande America, E.R. Kobe and KMTC Hong Kong.The escalation is of growing concern to IUMI (International Union of Marine Insurance) who used a recent forum to call for an urgent improvement to onboard firefighting systems.At a conference in Arendal, Norway, organised by marine insurer and P&I Club, Gard, and attended by IMO, flag states, shipowners, salvors, class, and insurers…

The increased risk of large, more complex and costly claims has the potential to impact all marine underwriting sectors in 2019, said the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI).Although the global fleet continued to grow at around 3% in 2018, the number of total losses (vessels over 500GT) stood at a 20-year low. Only 21 total losses were recorded last year and this is on the back of a general downward trend witnessed since 2010. The reduction was seen across all vessel classes.Serious casualties (excluding total losses) have stabilised over the past three years but are still higher, on average, than in 2014. There is likely to be a spike in Q1 2019 when numbers have been finalised.

Seabed survey and ocean exploration company Ocean Infinity said it has conducted urgent subsea search, inspection and operations on the wreck of the MV Grande America, which sank in the Bay of Biscay on March 12.Grande America capsized and sunk last month after its cargo of containers and vehicles caught fire during a voyage from Hamburg to Casablanca.Having entered into an agreement with marine services and salvage company Ardent, Ocean Infinity deployed its fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) to locate the wreck.

French authorities battled on Thursday to contain an oil slick after the Italian Grande America ship capsized in the Atlantic this week.The Grimaldi Lines container ship capsized and sank on Tuesday, after catching fire while sailing from Hamburg to Casablanca. Britain's Royal Navy frigate Argyll rescued all 27 crew members from the water.The ship was carrying 2,200 tonnes of heavy fuel when it sank some 330 km (200 miles) off the coast from La Rochelle in western France. Footage…

Twenty-seven people have been rescued from an Italian-registered cargo ship that caught fire Monday night in the Bay of Biscay, about 150 miles southwest of Brest. The Grimaldi Group owned combination container roll-on/roll-off (ConRo) vessel Grande America was sailing from Hamburg to Casablanca when its cargo of containers and vehicles caught fire around 8 p.m.After attempts to battle the flames proved unsuccessful, the entire crew of 26 and one passenger disembarked into heavy seas aboard a single enclosed lifeboat and were rescued by the crew of British Royal Navy frigate HMS Argyll…

The launching ceremony for the Grimaldi-Naples new RoRo occurred on September 6 at Fincantieri with Iliana Grimaldia, the wife of Emanuel Grimaldi the managing director of Grimaldi-Naples Group, serving as the vessel’s Godmother. Grande Amburgo is the fifth of a series consisting of Grande Europa, Gran Bretagna, Grande Mediterraneo and Grande Francia all of which were built at Fincantieri’s yard at Castellammare di Stabia. In little more than five years and in addition to Grande Amburgo, Grimaldi-Naples Group has ordered 12 ships from Fincantieri.

As part of the Partnership Agreement between Grimaldi Group, Naples and the U.K.'s A&P Group signed earlier this year, the Italian shipping company recently awarded repair contracts to both A&P Falmouth and A&P Southampton. The 51,714grt RoRo Gran Bretagna, which dry docked in Falmouth, and the 56,642 grt RoRo Grande America which dry docked in Southampton, completed repairs, the work scope including various steel renewals, mechanical overhauls including work to the bow thrusters, drencher system pipe renewals and preparation and painting of the vessels hulls and associated equipment. Both vessels were completed during their scheduled repair periods (12 and 13 days respectively), with the A&P workforce working around the clock to complete on time.