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meDiterraNeaN<br />
Motorways of the Sea<br />
stronger than the crisis<br />
<strong>Grimaldi</strong> Lines up 11% for ro-ro units and 15% for passengers<br />
Genoa<br />
Venice<br />
Ancona<br />
Livorno<br />
Valencia<br />
Barcelona<br />
Porto Torres<br />
Cagliari<br />
Civitavecchia<br />
Salerno<br />
Palermo<br />
Corfu<br />
Igoumenitsa<br />
Patras<br />
Corinth<br />
Tunis<br />
Trapani<br />
Malta<br />
Catania<br />
Piraeus<br />
Heraklion<br />
Al Khoms<br />
<strong>Grimaldi</strong> Lines’ Motorways of<br />
the Sea (MoS) in the Mediterranean<br />
are proving to be<br />
stronger than the financial and economic<br />
crisis. In the first six months of<br />
2009, the Motorways of the Sea network<br />
recorded an 11% growth in terms of rolling<br />
units transported and a 15% growth<br />
in terms of passengers. The growth in<br />
volumes has been positively reflected in<br />
both revenues and bottom line too.<br />
The success of <strong>Grimaldi</strong> Lines’ MoS<br />
Network between mainland Italy, Sicily,<br />
Sardinia, Spain, Tunisia, Malta, Libya<br />
and Greece is mainly a result of the continuous<br />
development of the fleet and of<br />
the network of services offered in order<br />
to obtain the real time adjustments in<br />
line with market demand. This makes<br />
it possible to maintain satisfactory rates<br />
for the cargo. The fleet deployed by the<br />
Group in the MoS network numbers 12<br />
ro-ro, ro-pax and cruise ferry vessels.<br />
In particular the commissioning of the<br />
Cruise Roma and Cruise Barcelona, the<br />
two largest cruise ferries in the Mediterranean<br />
has had the most positive impact<br />
on the 2009 results. In fact, through the<br />
economies of scale, the two vessels allow<br />
competitive pricing for both freight<br />
and passengers without reducing profitability.<br />
MINOAN LINES - This impact of<br />
economies of scale is the reason why the<br />
Group is very positive on the prospects<br />
of Minoan Lines which, next October, is<br />
to take delivery of the Cruise Europa, a<br />
sistership to Cruise Roma and Cruise<br />
Barcelona, which is similar in terms of<br />
dimensions but is capable of carrying<br />
even more passengers. The new vessel<br />
will be deployed on the Ancona-Igoumenitsa-Patras<br />
route where she will be<br />
followed by a sistership in 2010.<br />
Meanwhile, in the first quarter of 2009<br />
Minoan Lines has achieved positive results<br />
when compared with 2008 (before<br />
the crisis hit hard). In fact, due to the<br />
seasonality of the traffic the first quarter<br />
is always negative for the company,<br />
which recorded a net result of -4 million<br />
euros compared to -7.8 million euros in<br />
the same period of 2008. In terms of<br />
market share, Minoan gained ground on<br />
the Northern Adriatic routes on which it<br />
achieved a 37.3% share of trucks, 34.7%<br />
of passengers and 34.2% of cars. On the<br />
domestic market (Piraeus-Heraklion)<br />
Minoan did even better, recording a<br />
48% market share for trucks, 68.8% for<br />
passengers and 63.2% for cars.<br />
GNE WS<br />
3
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