Milan's new trams transported on Grimaldi ships

Milan’s tram network is having a makeover and, since late 2022, the Grimaldi Group has been taking care of the maritime transport of the new carriages. These are Tramlink bidirectional trams, designed and produced in the Stadler plant in Valencia, which ATM (Azienda Trasporti Milanesi (the Milan public transport company) will use for both urban and regional services, progressively replacing older stock and enhancing its offer.

The Neapolitan shipping company was entrusted with this challenging task by Multitrade, the freight forwarder designated to manage the project. This is not the first time that Multitrade has chosen the Grimaldi Group as a trusted partner for special transport in the rail and tram sector: in fact, between 2020 and 2022, the two companies collaborated successfully for the shipment from Spain of 114 new wagons for the Naples metro.

The delivery of the first of the new Milanese trams took place in October 2022, with presentation to the public and the start of testing, but it was in the spring of 2023 that the project entered a crucial new phase. Since then, a tram has been shipped approximately every month; the most recent delivery, at the end of November, was the seventh of the 15 new Tramlinks.

Each tram measures 25.4 x 2.4 x 3.7 metres and weighs approximately 38 tonnes. They are handled with special mafis (low-frame trailers) equipped with tracks supplied by Multitrade.

The first three trams travelled on the Valencia-Savona line, operated by the Grimaldi Group with its latest generation ‘Eco’ ro-ro ships, which have a very high loading capacity and a significantly reduced environmental impact.

However, after the third shipment had been completed, a limitation was imposed on the road transport of exceptional loads between Savona and Milan and this meant a new shipment solution from Spain to Italy was required. More than ever, the extensiveness of the Motorways of the Sea network offered by the Grimaldi Group was fundamental, enabling the company to provide an effective and efficient alternative: the new Sagunto-Salerno-Catania-Ravenna maritime route would be used for the 12 remaining trams, which would then complete their journey by road from Ravenna to Milan.

The new transport solution has already been successfully implemented for four trams; despite the two transshipments in Salerno and Catania, the transit time remains quite short – only six or seven days. This is made possible on the one hand by the high frequency of Grimaldi’s Mediterranean short-sea services, and on the other by the professionalism and expertise of the operators in the port terminals where the vehicles transit and are handled – often belonging to Neapolitan group subsidiaries, as in the case of Sagunto (Valencia Terminal Europa), Salerno (Logiport) and Catania (Grimaldi Marangolo Terminal Catania).

Thanks to latest generation ships, modern terminal facilities and equipment, and highly specialized personnel, the Grimaldi Group, a world leader in the transport of rolling freight, continues to consolidate its position as a reliable partner also in the special and project cargo segment, offering its customers high quality transport solutions for every need.