News in English

GRIMALDI CLARIFIES ITS ADRIATIC STRATEGY

With regards to the latest articles which appeared on the Greek press concerning an alleged war declared by the Grimaldi Group on the Italy-Greece Adriatic route, the Neapolitan company wishes to make the following statement:

The recently announced changes of the Grimaldi Group aim at a radical reorganisation of its Adriatic services, in the light of the new market conditions that are emerging after the pandemic crisis and in view of offering more reliable services to its clientele. By splitting the previously operated Ancona-Igoumenitsa-Patras link into two services from the Italian port, one to Igoumenitsa and one to Patras, the risk of delays is significantly reduced while passengers enjoy more comfortable departure and arrival times.

While concentrating its presence in Ancona, the Grimaldi Group has decided to remove its passenger service from Venice to Greece. It has also dismissed its Brindisi-Patras ro/pax service by leaving only one vessel deployed between the south of Italy and Igoumenitsa.

Overall, the number of Grimaldi vessels deployed between Italy and Greece remains the same, i.e, five ro/pax and two ro/ro units. However, there has been a reduction of the whole capacity offered by 2,000 linear metres for rolling cargo and by 200 cabins between Italy and Greece.

Through this move the Grimaldi Group confirms its strategy of competing in a serious and responsible way, sometimes removing tonnage if necessary, but always aiming at offering top quality services to its customers.

With regards to the Piraeus-Crete lines, while Grimaldi’s sister company Minoan Lines currently deploys three ro/pax vessels, the competing joint venture continues to operate with four ships on the same routes, although knowing that the market, especially for passengers, is heavily depressed and does not justify the deployment of such number of units.

The Grimaldi Group has always been convinced that the Piraeus-Crete routes can adequately be served with six ro/pax vessels, three of which operated by Minoan Lines, a company headquartered in Heraklion, and the remaining three by other players.