Grimaldi Group’s next round of orders will take its spend on newbuildings to $4.5bn, managing director Emanuele Grimaldi said.
Speaking at the 26th Euromed Convention in Athens today, Grimaldi confirmed that the Italian company was closing in on a $1.5bn order for a series of nine ropax vessels.
These would add to the 27 orders that the Naples-based car carrier specialist and ropax owner-operator has on order or is in the process of taking delivery of.
Over the past two years, Grimaldi has taken delivery of seven con-ro, ro-ro and pure car/truck carriers and currently has 21 more under construction.
“We are talking about five series of vessels ordered in five different yards for a total investment of over $3bn,” Grimaldi said.
“The layout will increase by another $1bn or so if and when we place a further order for nine more ropax vessels,” he said.
The delivery of the newbuildings would further reduce the age of the Grimaldi fleet, which is already 40% less than the average age of the global ro-ro fleet.
The newbuildings are designed to be more efficient. They will feature large keels to exploit the economies of scale, hybrid propulsion, exhaust gas cleaning systems as well as large battery and solar panels.
Some 17 of the vessels on order are 9,000-ceu PCTCs worth $1.6bn, which are slated for delivery from Chinese shipyards between 2025 and 2027.
The rest of the portfolio comprises roro and conro ships including the 2500-ceu Great Casablanca, which was delivered in August and is the fifth of six conro ships.
Grimaldi said that 12 vessels will replace ships in shortsea services and six vessels would replace those in deepsea services.
