Thirty years of Grimaldi in the Port of Venice
The
Grimaldi Group recently celebrated its first 30 years of operations in Venice,
during which it has helped transform the lagoon port into a strategic hub for
national and international maritime traffic.
It all
began on 27 December 1994, when the ro-ro ship Akademic Tupolev first
sailed from Venice, inaugurating a regular service for the transportation of
cars and other rolling cargo to and from the ports of Alexandria (Egypt),
Ashdod and Haifa (Israel). This was an immediate success, with strong demand
for freight transport leading the Grimaldi Group to consider Venice a key port
for its Mediterranean operations.
In the
following years, the route was enhanced with the deployment of the car carriers
Fides and Spes: the initially monthly service became weekly,
solidifying the company’s presence in the port.
In 2015
there was a major innovation: Grimaldi introduced a new regular service for the
transport of rolling freight between Venice, Bari, and Patras. The ro-ro ships Eurocargo
Trieste and Eurocargo Patrasso were initially deployed on this Motorway
of the Sea, and later replaced by Eurocargo Alexandria and Eurocargo
Genova.
The most
significant upgrade to this new service came in June 2023, when the Neapolitan
group decided to deploy two cutting-edge Eco ships on the route,
doubling capacity and significantly improving performance compared to the Eurocargo
vessels.
Over the
past decade, this major investment in maritime intermodality across the
Adriatic has delivered record-breaking results. The weekly movement of trailers
in the Port of Venice grew from 300 in 2015 to an impressive 1,900 in 2024.
This growth has also generated significant environmental benefits: the Eco
Italia and Eco Catania are capable of halving emissions per unit
transported during navigation, eliminating them entirely while docked.
Thus, the
Grimaldi Group continues to create value and sustainability not only for its
freight transport customers but also for the communities surrounding all the
ports served by its connections – and Venice is no exception.