The Jinling Shipyard (Nanjing) has handed over Eco Malta to Grimaldi Group, the sixth ro-ro in a series of 12.

The GT 67,311 vessel, flying the Italian flag, is 238 m long and 34 m wide, offering 7,800 lane metres of cargo capacity across seven decks (incl. two hoistable).

Eco Malta will start serving the Livorno-Savona-Barcelona-Valencia loop alongside her sister ships Eco Savona, Eco Barcelona, and Eco Valencia upon arrival.

According to the Neapolitan shipping line, the Grimaldi Green 5th Generation (GG5G) vessels consume the same amount of fuel as the previous ro-ro line-up at the same speed, effectively halving their carbon footprint per transported unit as they offer double the freight space.

GG5G newbuilds are equipped with 5 MWh of battery storage for emission-free port calls. The battery packs recharge at sea through shaft generators and power coming from the ships' 350 m2 big solar panels.

"The green transition requires great commitment and continuous investments, and in the shipping industry our Group has been moving decisively and quickly in this direction for years," Emanuele Grimaldi, Grimaldi Group's Managing Director, said.

He furthered, "True sustainability requires us to effectively meet the needs of the market by minimizing the environmental impact: this is the result we are aiming for by adding to ships our fleet that are both more capacious and more eco-friendly, just like Eco Malta."

Photo: Grimaldi Group