New service reflects growing West African tradeBy Peter A. Buxbaum, AJOTThe Grimaldi Group is continuing to augment its services from North America to West Africa. Beginning next month, Grimaldi, the Naples, Italy-based operator of ro-ro and multipurpose ro-ro/container vessels, will inaugurate a new, twice-monthly direct service between East Coast ports and West Africa. The new service will be using a multipurpose vessel and will be carrying both ro-ro and containerized cargoes.
This new service enhances the Grimaldi Group’s existing monthly direct ro-ro service from Jacksonville, Baltimore, and New York to West African ports and supplements the carrier’s existing portfolio of services from North America to West Africa.
“We started direct service from the US East Coast to West Africa in March,” explained Bob Willman, general manager for ro-ro and special projects at Atlantic Container Lines. ACL, based in Iselin, NJ, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Grimaldi Group and is acting as the group’s general agent in North America for the West African services.
“The initial direct service is strictly ro-ro,” Willman continued. “We are carrying cars, trucks, vans and other rolling cargo. This new service represents an enhancement because it will include both containers and ro-ro cargoes. It will mirror the full service Grimaldi offers from Europe to West Africa.”
In May 2001, ACL began offering a monthly ro-ro service from East Coast ports to West Africa by transshipping cargo through the Grimaldi terminal in Antwerp and connecting there with Grimaldi’s service from Northern Europe to West Africa. At that time, Grimaldi was the major shareholder in ACL, owning 45% of the outstanding shares. Since that time, Grimaldi has taken over ACL outright and has organized ACL as a subsidiary of the parent company.
The direct ro-ro service, inaugurated earlier this year by Grimaldi, delivers cargo directly from East Coast ports to West Africa without transshipment. The new ro-ro service also inaugurated Grimaldi service form the Port of Jacksonville.
Lower handling costs and better transit timeACL services to Antwerp, which offers transshipment on to Africa, continues on a four times per week basis. That service primarily handles African cargo from Halifax, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah and Houston. On the African side, these services call on the ports of Dakar, Tema, Lome, Cotonou and Lagos, with connecting service to Banjul, Conakry, Freetown, Monrovia, Abidjan, Takoradi, Douala, Pointe Noire, Luanda and Boma.
ACL and Grimaldi initiated ro-ro service to West Africa several years ago because they perceived increasing demand for used vehicles and equipment in that region. The transshipment scheme came about as a way to minimize exposure to downsize risk by utilizing existing assets and infrastructure. But conditions developed to the point where the carrier decided to provide direct service. Advantages to direct service include lower handling costs and better transit time.
The existing direct ro-ro service utilizes a Grimaldi vessel called the Marble Highway. The latest enhancement will be using a multipurpose ro-ro/container ship called the Repubblica di Amalfi. Plans call for the introduction of yet another vessel, the Repubblica di Genova, to the new direct combination service in early 2007, according to Willman. The Repubblica-class container/ro-ro vessels have a capacity of up to 650 teus of containerized cargo, 300 trucks/tractors/buses and 1,600 cars, depending on the configuration of the deck.
The most modern ro-ro terminal in AfricaThe Grimaldi Group currently operates 21 ro-ro/container vessels in the African trades and operates landside logistics and car storage facilities in the main port areas. On August 18, 2006 Grimaldi celebrated the grand opening of its new ro-ro terminal in Lagos, Nigeria. Willman said it is
