The Group’s vast Motorways of the Sea offering is further expanded and enhanced, providing increasing opportunities for the transport of rolling freight between Italy, Greece and Turkey.

 Just over a month after its launch, the Grimaldi Group’s Trieste-Ambarli ro-ro route will be enhanced with an intermediate call at the port of Patras. This strategic development will not only establish a direct connection between Greece and Turkey, but will also make the connections between these countries and Italy even more extensive and efficient.

The new Trieste-Patras-Ambarli service will become fully operational starting on October 23 and will be operated by the sister vessels Eco Mediterranea and Eco Malta. These hybrid ro-ro ships, each with a transport capacity of over 500 trailers, are the most eco-friendly in the world, as they can halve CO2 emissions per cargo unit compared to the previous generation of ro-ro ships, and even cut them to zero during port stays.

With two weekly departures from each of the three ports, the Trieste-Patras-Ambarli service perfectly complements Grimaldi Lines’ network of routes. Firstly, the new direct connection between Greece and Turkey represents an important innovation within the Motorways of the Sea operated by the Group in the Mediterranean.

Moreover, in combination with the thrice-weekly Venice-Bari-Patras service (also operated by two Eco-class vessels) and through transshipment at the Greek port, the route will extend its reach to southern Italy, enabling the easy movement of rolling cargo to and from Turkey via the Apulian port. On the other hand, Venice will serve as another gateway for rolling freight transported between northern Italy and Turkey via the same transshipment mode.

Ultimately, for the Italian Group’s clients, the two sides of the Adriatic will become even closer: four Eco-class vessels will operate between northern Italy (Venice, Trieste) and Greece (Patras), providing a total of five weekly departures in both directions – on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

“The new Trieste-Patras-Ambarli route is yet another demonstration of the great potential of the Motorways of the Sea network offered by our Group. With the addition of one port of call, the scope of a service expands exponentially, leveraging the reach, frequency, and efficiency of our connections as a whole,” said the Neapolitan group’s Managing Director Emanuele Grimaldi. “We continue our commitment towards increasingly efficient maritime transport, benefiting our customers and promoting sustainability. In this regard, a third sister ship of Eco Mediterranea and Eco Malta, recently launched at the Jinling shipyards in China, will soon be deployed on this route between Italy and Turkey, and the addition of a fourth Eco-class vessel is not ruled out,” concluded Emanuele Grimaldi.