July 21 - The Grimaldi Group has taken delivery of the pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) Grande Baltimora, the first of a series of three sister ships manufactured at Jinling Shipyard, China.
Grande Baltimora has a length of 199.9 m, a beam of 32.36 m and a gross tonnage of 63,000 tonnes.
Fitted with four hoistable decks, the vessel is able to load any type of rolling freight up to 5.2 m high, such as trucks, tractors, buses and excavators, and features a side ramp and a quarter stern ramp. The latter allows the loading of freight units with a weight of up to 150 tonnes, says Grimaldi.
The Italian-flagged unit has a capacity of 6,700 car equivalent units (ceu), or 4,000 lane metres and 2,500 ceu.
The vessel is fitted with an electronically-controlled Man Diesel & Turbo main engine, which meets the new regulations for the reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions. Other environmental fittings include a hybrid exhaust gas cleaning system for the abatement of sulphur oxide emissions, and a ballast water treatment unit to meet the future international regulations.
"The Grande Baltimora is another demonstration of the commitment of our group to strengthen further our services between the Mediterranean and North America with the deployment of even more modern, flexible and environmentally friendly vessels", said the group's managing director Emanuele Grimaldi.
The vessel, which is on its way to New York, USA for its first sailing, will be deployed on a weekly ro-ro service operated by the group between the Mediterranean and North America, serving ports in Gemlik, Turkey; Gioia Tauro, Civitavecchia, and Savona in Italy; Halifax, Canada; New York and Baltimore, USA; Veracruz, Mexico; and Antwerp, Belgium.
