It is a truly exceptional start to the year for the Grimaldi Group: 2021 opens with the delivery of the Eco Barcelona, which took place on Monday morning (Jan 04), while two more ultra-modern vessels, Grande Texas and Eco Livorno, will join Grimaldi’s fleet by the end of this month. Both Eco-class vessels, intended for the transport of rolling freight in the Mediterranean, and Grande Texas, sixth of a series of seven PCTC (Pure Car & Truck Carrier) units ordered from the Chinese shipyard Yangfan located in Zhoushan, will contribute to making the Group's fleet even younger and more eco-friendly.
The Eco Barcelona, which flies the Italian flag, is the second of the twelve hybrid units of the new Grimaldi Green 5th Generation (GG5G) class ordered from the Chinese shipyard Jinling in Nanjing. Thanks to their unique design, the GG5G ships are not only the largest ro-ro units in the world for short sea shipping, but also the most eco-friendly ones.
The Eco Barcelona has a length of 238 meters, a beam of 34 meters, a gross tonnage of 67,311 tonnes and a service speed of 20.8 knots. She can transport 7,800 linear meters of rolling freight, equivalent to around 500 trailers: if compared with the previous class of ro-ro ships deployed by the Grimaldi Group for short sea shipping, the new unit can transport twice the load while maintaining the same fuel consumption at the same speed.
The excellent environmental performance of the Eco Barcelona is the result of the adoption of numerous highly innovative technological solutions that optimize fuel consumption. In addition, the vessel, which is equipped with state-of-the-art, electronically controlled engines, consumes fossil fuel during navigation and electricity during the stop in port, guaranteeing “Zero Emission in Port®”. While at berth, in fact, the ship uses the power stored in lithium batteries that are recharged during navigation thanks to shaft generators and 350 m2 of solar panels. The vessel is also equipped with an exhaust gas cleaning system for the reduction of sulphur and particulate emissions.
Like her sister ship Eco Valencia, already operational since mid-November, once she arrives from China, the Eco Barcelona will be deployed on the regular line connecting the Italian ports of Livorno and Savona and the Spanish ports of Barcelona and Valencia.
"This new year begins auspiciously for our Group: in the month of January alone we will welcome three new ultra-modern ships to our fleet, and more units will be delivered in the coming months", declared the Neapolitan company Managing Director Emanuele Grimaldi. "Thanks to the new, increasingly efficient vessels, also in 2021 we will do our best to offer our customers high quality services, without losing sight of the major goal of eco-sustainability".