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[Nick the Greek]

Italian liner owner and operator Grimaldi Lines is splashing out EUR 600m ($806.1m) on orders for eight new vessels.

Apart from two options for ferries which the company has firmed up at compatriot yard Fincantieri the Naples-based outfit has inked orders for six other units.

It is not known where the six other vessels will be built but in mid May TradeWinds reported that Grimaldi was negotiating contracts for up to 10 ro-pax units at two Chinese yards.

An e-mail sent by TradeWinds to Grimaldi asking for details on the order was not immediately returned but a source at the company confirmed that the orders had been signed some 10 days ago.

The owner already has five multi-purpose (MPP) car-carriers on order at South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in a deal worth $430m with deliveries starting from spring 2010.

The news follows shortly after Grimaldi splashed out EUR 40m on a 14% stake in rival Greek operator Anek Lines. The Italian owner made the purchase through a subsidiary called Atlantica Spa di Navigazione.

Grimaldi struck the share-purchase deal due to perceived business synergies between itself and Anek – the latter already operates 10 vessels between Italy and Greece.

On Wednesday Anek announced a significant cut in its first-quarter net deficit as revenues grew and costs were kept in check. The net loss for the period was EUR 2.2m, down from EUR 7.11m a year ago as revenues rose 22% to EUR 49.8m.

Πηγη η Tradewinds

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