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The Grimaldi Group (Naples) has officially taken delivery of the M/v Grande Ghana from the Croatian shipyards of Uljanik. With a length of 214 metres, a width of 32.25 metres and a service speed of 20 knots, the Grande Ghana is a ro/ro multipurpose vessel with a gross tonnage of 50,000 tonnes and with an ideal cargo intake of 2,000 cars and vans, 2,000 linear metres of rolling cargo and 800 Teus. Second in a series of seven last generation multipurpose Ro/ro units under construction by Uljanik, the Grande Ghana is the 14th ship built for the Grimaldi Group in the Croatian shipyards.
The deployment of the Grande Ghana will allow an upgrade of the Southern Express Service, one of the four regular lines offered by the Group between North Europe and West Africa. In particular, thanks to the new vessel, the frequency of the service will go down from 15 to every 12 days. The ports served will be Amsterdam, Hamburg, Tilbury, Antwerp, Le Havre, Lisbon, Dakar, Pointe Noire, Luanda and Douala.
The Grande Ghana is designed to offer the maximum of flexibility in terms of intake capacity and type of cargo loaded. The height of its main decks allows the loading of heavy and out of gauge rolling equipment such as trucks, tractors, double-deck buses, big earthmoving equipment, etc. The vessel’s sophisticated system of internal ramps, fixed and hoistable, optimizes its cargo mix while its quarter stern ramp allows the loading of cargo units with a weight of up to 250 tonnes. Its two cranes on the weather deck are able to lift units (containers and general cargo) with a weight of up to 40 tonnes.
While waiting for its final deployment on the Southern Express Service, the Grande Ghana will be used on the Central Express Service linking North Europe to several West Africa ports including Tema, the main port of Ghana, the nation from which the vessel took its name.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
