NEWS 62 - Grimaldi Group

Xxxxxxxxxxx
Contents
3 Three new Eurocargoclass
vessels deployed in
the short sea network
4 Grimaldi Group lays the
foundation stone for the new
terminal in the Port of Barcelona
6 New services in
Finnlines network
Wallhamn the 2 nd largest
port in Sweden
7 MEX service further enhanced
New Grimaldi offices in Benin
8 GM recognises the Group
as a 2012 Supplier of the Year
9 News
10 Agents List
11 Schedules
- Mediterranean Short Sea Network
- Finnlines (Baltic & North Sea)
- Atlantic Network
- ACL
- Euro Med Network
G r imaldi
NE WS
Direttore Responsabile / Editor in Chief
Luciano Bosso
Progetto grafico /Graphic design
Marco Di Lorenzo
Pubblicazione trimestrale
Quarterly publication
Reg. Trib. Napoli n. 5150 del 26/9/2000
Stampa / Print: ROSSI srl - Nola (Napoli)
Circulation 35,000 copies
Printed on 6 June 2013
GRIMALDI GROUP
Via Marchese Campodisola, 13
2 GNEWS80133 NAPOLI (Italy)
Grimaldi News can be seen on
line on www.grimaldi.napoli.it
Editorial
Grimaldi defies
the crisis with
record turnover
Consolidated 2012 results for the companies under the Grimaldi Group umbrella make encouraging
reading. Last year saw record turnover of just over Euro 2.7 billion, a Euro 200
million improvement on 2011. Net profit was also up from around Euro 100 million in 2011
to Euro 164 million.
The Group’s Italian companies put in a particularly impressive performance; they were already doing
well before we entered this era of seemingly endless crisis, and they’re still doing well today.
Companies outside our home market, such Atlantic Container Line and Malta Motorways of the Sea,
also performed satisfactorily. Management teams at Finnlines and Minoan Lines, meanwhile, have
put in a good deal of hard work, though more remains to be done.
Many Italians believe one’s virtues should be on public display, while one’s sins should remain
private. But within our Group we seem to have inadvertently adopted the opposite policy. Grimaldi’s
privately owned companies have become paragons of virtue, whereas the Group’s publicly listed
companies were probably leveraged a little too highly when the crisis struck. There was not enough
focus on profit, and this soon became apparent when market conditions softened.
Balance sheet strengthening is now underway at Minoan and Finnlines via capital increases –
around Euro 50 million and Euro 28 million respectively. Other measures have also been taken to
remove costs. At Minoan, some vessels have been chartered out while at Finnlines, staffing levels
in the company’s port business are being reduced by about 100. At both companies we have taken
steps to lower fuel costs by investing in efficient design - changing propellers on certain Minoan
vessels being just one example. The Finnlines headquarters have moved to a new portside location,
enabling the old, more costly building to be handed back to its landlord.
Finnlines has signed two sizeable contracts this year; one with a large forest products shipper, and
another with a high-end car manufacturer. This summer, Finnlines vessels will be both transporting
parts to the production line in Finland and bringing finished cars back out to the market place.
Despite the extremely challenging conditions the Group continues to see adequate cash flow,
which has paved the way for further investment. We are looking forward to the entry into service of
some of the most impressive vessels ever to join the fleet – there are 16 in all under the current
investment programme. The deepsea vessels destined for ACL services are twice as efficient in
terms of fuel consumption as the ships they will replace, a fact that is sure to trigger better financial
results. Where we could move 40 TEU with one tonne of fuel, we will soon be moving 80 TEU.
The state-of-the-art vessels built at the Hyundai Mipo Shipyard in South Korea and the roll-on rolloff
ships we purchased from Hong Kong-based Pacific Basin all bring welcome extra capacity to
our worldwide network spanning North America, South America and West Africa. Recent purchases
have all been made on very favourable terms – this is perhaps one of the few upsides to the severe
recession with which many of our competitors continue to struggle.
When you factor in upgrades to the Antwerp hub in Belgium for the ACL vessels and investment
at the Grimaldi new terminal in Barcelona, Spain, you will surely agree that there are plenty of
reasons for our customers, partners, staff and financial backers to trust in the future solidity of our
Group.
And to cap off this good news story we are proud to report that 2013 is also off to an impressive
start. The Group as a whole is performing better than is was at this point last year. We plan to continue
to defy the crisis.