Grandi Navi Veloci News

ABB’s chiller optimization solution for passenger ships achieves over 18% energy savings on board ferry La Suprema.ABB and Italian shipping company GNV (Grandi Navi Veloci) have completed a first-of-its-kind retrofit of a technology that optimizes the performance of chillers used for heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems on ferries – and the results have exceeded all expectations.Energy efficiency initiatives for ship operations generally focus on main propulsion…

Wärtsilä EnergoProFin is a state-of-the-art energy saving solution that increases propeller efficiency and creates fuel savings of up to five percent. The solution is now available for both controllable pitch propellers (CPP) as well as fixed pitch propellers (FPP), yielding the same results in both propeller options. Offering the solution for technologically more challenging CPPs was previously considered impossible in the industry, but is now made possible due to development work by the Wärtsilä hydrodynamics team. The Wärtsilä EnergoProFin is a specially designed propeller cap with hydrofoil section fins on the downstream side of the propeller. It is an innovative energy saving device that can significantly reduce a vessel's fuel consumption as well as its emission levels.

More than 250 top-level delegates attended trade association Interferry’s 38th annual conference in Malta to debate the major factors affecting ferry operations around the world. Under a new format mixing presentations with panel discussions and audience input, the event underlined the diversity of political, technical, operational and commercial issues challenging the industry. Among several sessions focused on safety, a former airline pilot confirmed the alarming certainty of human error…

RINA updates GREEN PLUS notation to cover transhipment terminals. International classification society RINA has updated its industry-leading GREEN PLUS notation to include new potential sources of pollution involving seagoing ships and ships operating at fixed locations. GREEN PLUS is awarded to new vessels that make a significant investment in design solutions, onboard equipment and operational procedures which contribute to an improvement in environmental performance beyond the minimum levels required by regulation.

A planning boat that is light, fast and economical, yet has the usable deck area of a boat twice it’s size and the stability of a trimaran! Sounds too good to be true, well that was my initial reaction until I attended the Press launch in Italy of the “transformer” Wider 42. I call it transformer because that’s what it does. It can plane at speeds over 50 knots and when it stops, by pressing a button, in 12 secs it transforms the cockpit deck into an are twice its size. To ensure stability, two sponsons, one each side slide out from the hull to increase stability.

Genoa-based verification, certification and ship classification group RINA has published a new notation GAS FUELLED SHIPS which establishes requirements for the use of liquefied or compressed natural gas (LNG or CNG) on board ship as an alternative to traditional fuels. It is designed to  give the industry a regulatory tool to ensure that the arrangement and installation on board of machinery using this type of fuel are such as to provide a level of integrity, from the point of view of safety and reliability, equivalent to that of a conventional installation. RINA notes that the use of natural gas as a fuel provides the advantages of a total reduction in sulphur oxide emissions…

Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV), cruise ferry operator in the Mediterranean has converted all vessels at maintenance and repair dry docking to the biocide free, foul release system, Intersleek. The conversion process began in 2005 with the application of Intersleek 700, a silicone based foul release system, on the 32,700 GT, 23 knot cruise ferry Majestic. Since then another four vessels, the Fantastic, Splendid, Excellent and Excelsior have all been coated with Intersleek 700. In January 2009…

Northrop Grumman Corporation's Sperry Marine business unit announced that it has received recent orders for 10 VoyageMaster Voyage Data Recorders (VDR). Terms of the contract were not disclosed. The VoyageMaster system meets the International Maritime Organization (IMO) carriage requirements for VDRs and is fully type approved. The VDR carriage requirements apply to all new ships over 3,000 gross tons, and all existing roll-on, roll-off passenger ships. The compliance deadline is July 1, 2002. Grimaldi Group's cruise ferry operator, Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV), has ordered six VoyageMaster VDR systems for installation on six existing cruise RoRo ferries.

Grandi Navi Veloci and WINS, a joint venture set up by Skylogic Italia (Eutelsat’s broadband affiliate) and Maltasat International launched a satellite-based communications network on the first two of eight luxury cruise ferries that sail in the Western Mediterranean. The new network enables Grandi Navi Veloci to extend GSM telephony to passengers and crew at sea and also to provide broadband access services. The complete fleet of eight GNV ferries is expected to be equipped before the end of the year. The new service was officially launched on May 22 in the port of Genoa on La Superba, a Grandi Navi Veloci cruise ship which can transport 3,000 passengers and 1,000 cars.

Contracted by Nuovi Cantieri Apuania SpA in Marina Di Carrara, Italy, another pair of luxury cruise ferries for the Italian-based Grimaldi group is to be powered by Wärtsilä NSD Corp. The vessels will house four Wartsila 16V46C main engines and four Wartsila 6R32LNE diesel generating sets. The main engines have a combined output of 67,200 kW at 500 rev/min., and the auxiliary engines 10,800 kW at 720 rev/min. Scheduled for delivery in May 2002 and May 2003, these twin-screw vessels each have a capacity for 2,800 passengers with 1,000 cars. With a service speed of 28 knots, they will be operated by Grandi Navi Veloci SpA, a member of the Grimaldi group, between the north of Italy and Sicily.