Next wave of newbuildings on the horizon for Grimaldi

Ro-roGrimaldi has laid the groundwork in China and South Korea for a fresh influx of RoRo and RoPax tonnage. The major family-owned Italian shipping group has signed a letter of intent with China Merchants for four next-generation multipurpose PCTCs with a capacity of 10,000 CEU.

It has also signed a letter of intent with China’s Guangzhou Shipyard International for another four PCTCs, each with a capacity of 11,000 CEU. Both potential orders are based on multipurpose designs that can also carry containers.

Details of Grimaldi’s next wave of new tonnage were provided by Emanuele Grimaldi, the lead member of the group’s owning family, in an interview with Shipping Italy. According to the shipowner, the two batches of four PCTCs could be delivered in 2030 and 2031.

In the interview, Emanuele Grimaldi also revealed that the group would order another RoPax from China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Weihai), earmarked for Grimaldi Trasmed. This would be Grimaldi’s tenth ongoing RoPax newbuilding at the yard, where it already has nine vessels of two designs on order: three for its Finnish subsidiary Finnlines and six for its Mediterranean and Adriatic operators Grimaldi Lines and Minoan Lines.

Finally, the forthcoming newbuilding programme, worth around EUR 4 billion, is also highly likely to include the three new sixth-generation ConRo vessels recently announced at the Euromed Convention. Negotiations are currently under way with Hyundai in South Korea and Guangzhou Shipyard International in China.

nov 02 2026