Grimaldi News 47 - Web Agency

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West Africa (up to 3 x week)
With up to three departures per week,
Grimaldi offers German importers
and exporters the most solid, reliable,
efficient and especially direct
connection to the entire range of
West African countries. The Group’s
unrivalled West African network is
served by a fleet of newly-built, large,
flexible and technologically advanced
multipurpose ro-ro vessels of
the ‘Grande’ class able to carry up to
800 containers on the weather deck.
Fitted with two 40-ton cranes, these
ships can also take on board any kind
of special or project cargo having a
weight or up to 250 tonnes apiece.
Transit time from Hamburg ranges
between 10 and 33 days depending
on the destination. For example, ports
such Lagos and Tema are served in
18-20 days.
South America (every 9 days)
Trades to and from Brazil, Argentina
and Uruguay are served every
9 days. In fact, Hamburg is also the
Northern European terminal for the
South American service. One again
this is served by the flexible and
modern multipurpose ro-ro car carriers
part of the ‘Grande’ Class, pictured
on the previous page together
with an ACL ship while calling at the
Unikai terminal.
ACL (US and Canada, weekly)
With departures every Friday and a
12–day transit time, ACL’s service is
the strongest and most reliable link
between Germany and North America.
Served by five ro-ro/container
ships, the world largest, Hamburg,
is also the hub for North American
cargo bound to the Mediterranean. In
fact, in order to make transhipment
operations as smooth as possible,
since early 2008, ACL’s weekly transatlantic
service calls Unikai, the same
terminal where all of the Grimaldi
Lines services call. Unikai is 49%
owned by the Group.
Grande Benin
upgrades
West African trades
Southern Express service frequency is
to be improved to minimum every 10
days as the newest multipurpose ro-ro
enters service in September
The newest multipurpose ro-ro vessel in the
fleet, the Grande Benin, is set to be deployed
in September on the Southern Express Service,
one of the four regular lines offered by the
Group between North Europe and West Africa.
The commissioning of this vessel will result in a
50% improvement of the frequency of the direct
connection between Amsterdam, Hamburg, Tilbury,
Antwerp, Le Havre, Lisbon, Dakar, Pointe
Noire, Luanda and Douala with a minimum one
sailing every ten days.
Godmother of the Grande Benin was Mrs Adounni
Madinatou Badarou Soule, wife of the Hon. Issa Badarou Soule, Minister of Transport
of Benin. Both are pictured here with Mr Gianluca Grimaldi, the Group’s
joint-managing director, during the launching ceremony, which took place on 25
April at the Uljanik shipyard of Pula, in Croatia.
The deployment of the Grande Benin on the Southern Express Service represents
further evidence of Grimaldi Lines’ increased commitment to serve the West African
trades following the introduction on the same route of the Grande Ghana (pictured)
earlier this year. In order to offer the best possible service levels to shippers,
the vessels deployed on the West Africa Southern Express Service also support
the Lisbon Express service sailings to Angola when cargo volumes require it.
6 GNE WS