Car Trade News

Trade association 'Shipping Australia' says it applauds the Abbott Government’s decision to return the temporary levy on shipping to its original (lower) level. The Government’s budget night announcement that it will return the Protection of the Sea Levy to its original level of 11.25 cents per net registered tonne has been enthusiastically welcomed by the shipping industry. “This decision rights a wrong that was perpetrated when the temporary levy remained in place after achieving its purpose back in 2012,” Shipping Australia chairman Ken Fitzpatrick said. “Shipping Australia has fought long and hard, repeatedly representing this matter to Government on behalf of the shipping industry and it has taken more than two years and a change of Government to see a fair result at last.

The car carrier Grande Lagos, the seventh of a 10-vessel order, was launched on February 22 at the Croatian yard Uljanik at Pola for Italy’s Grimaldi-Naples. Grande Lagos, which will be delivered in May, is a 44,500 ton 198,40 m long ship with capacity for 5,400 cars or 456 trucks and 200 cars on 45,671 sq. m., and has a cruising speed of 20 knots. The other three vessels will be delivered at Uljanik for Grimaldi-Naples during the period from 2004 and 2006. On February 16 Grimaldi-Naples took delivery of Grande Buenos Aires at Fincantieri Ancona…

Manuel Grimaldi confided to some close friends last December that not only had he decided to set up a new line from Italy to Spain but also to purchase Superfast 1 now called Eurostar Roma for about $49.3 million. The specification of the vessel will mean a greater presence in Mediterranean RoRo and in fact there are now three of this type of vessel under the name of Grimaldi Ferry Prestige. The new purchase Eurostar Roma (pictured opposite page) was presented by the Naples shipping group in Rome on January 23, 2004. The vessel is 24,000 tons, 570.8 ft. (174 m) long, with a beam of 78.7 ft. (24 m) and a cruising speed of 27 knots. Eurostar Rome can carry 1,400 passengers with 100 cars as well as 110 trailers.

While the Chinese automotive sector is experiencing double-digit growth, Chinese finished vehicle exporters are facing stiff competition and ongoing logistics challenges in getting their products to foreign markets because of a lack of RoRo ships, according to a report on http://www.cargonewsasia.com. Zhang Xiaoyu, vice-chairman of the China Machinery Industry Federation said that while the number of China's vehicle exports has increased sharply, many of these cars lay in transit at ports because shipping companies simply do not have enough vessels to transport them. According to China Custom's figures, the mainland exported a total of 340,000 cars in 2006 - double that exported in 2005.