Grimaldi-Naples Launches RoRo Grande Amburgo

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. These are Grande Nigeria and Grande Buenos Aires from the Ancona yard and Grande America, Grande Africa, Grande Atlantico, Grande Argentina, Grande Brasile and Grande San Paolo from the Palermo yard.

As an ultra large vessel of 56,000 tons, Grande Amburgo measures 702 ft. (214 m) with a beam of 105 ft. (32 m). 25,000 hp gives it a service speed of 19 knots.

The size of Grande Amburgo enables it to carry 2,500 cars as well as 2,500 lane m for heavy vehicles and 850 containers of 20 ft. all below deck. This capacity combined with two mobile decks, which can be adjusted for height depending on the type of load reflects the special research carried out by Grimaldi-Naples for all the ships they build resulting in open uninterrupted deck areas which reduce handling damage to a minimum.

Flexability in cargo type, frequency and regularity of departures, number of port called upon although essential were not considered by Grimaldi-Naples top management to be sufficient.

Accordingly staff training courses are held to improve handling operations and these have produced results much appreciated by customers especially car manufacturers and their dealers which use Grimaldi-Naples ships to carry their product the length and breadth of the world.

An additional RoRo awaits; Grande Buenos Aires will be delivered by December 2003 from Fincantieri’s Ancona yard.