Fincantieri Launches the Cruise Olympia for the Grimaldi Group

Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009

Cruise Olympia was launched today at Castellammare di Stabia shipyard, the last of a series of four innovative cruise ferries ordered by the Grimaldi Group (Naples), Italy’s biggest shipping company and leading European operator within the Motorways of the Sea.

Godmother to the ship, that was launched sliding down the traditional slipway in a spectacular ceremony, was Maria Consuelo Fuduli Grimaldi, sister of Emanuele Grimaldi, Chairman of Minoan Lines.

After delivery, scheduled for next June, Cruise Olympia will join her sistership Cruise Europa, employed since October by Minoan Lines, the Greek shipping company part of the Grimaldi Group, on the Ancona/Igoumenitsa/Patras route.

Cruise Olympia, together with Cruise Europa, will be the biggest cruise ferry in the Mediterranean Sea and will be outfitted following the same high standards found on cruise ships, such as the interior design of public areas and cabins and the wide range of onboard entertainment, that includes an à la carte and a self service restaurant, bars, a casino, wellness and fitness areas, a swimming pool, shops, a conference hall and a party hall, a discotheque, two halls reserved for drivers, an internet point, a video games corner and a children’s playroom.

225 metres long and 31 metres wide, with a gross tonnage of 54,310 tons and a loading capacity of 250 cars and 3,000 linear metres of coaches, trucks and campers, Cruise Olympia will accommodate up to 3,000 passengers in 413 comfortable cabins, 18 of which will be Owner’s suites and 50 Junior suites, besides 548 reclining seats (114 of which first class). The ship will be able to operate at a service speed of 28 knots connecting Ancona, Igoumenitsa and Patras in only 22 hours.

Cruise Olympia was designed bearing in mind environmental and energetic saving requirements: transporting on the Motorways of the Sea hundreds of trucks and thousands of passengers each day, the road congestion will be reduced thus producing a clear cut of the CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. To underline its environmental friendliness, the ship will be awarded the “Green Star” certificate by the Italian Ship Classification society (RINA), proving how these units have been designed, built and run to have a zero impact on the environment thanks to the “Clean Air” and ‘Clean Sea” notations.

Emanuele Grimaldi, Chairman of Minoan Lines, has declared: “”Cruise Olympia” is a further proof that is it possible to successfully combine high quality services with the “low cost” concept. Thanks to the economies of scale and scope generated, the new unit can offer extremely competitive rates for rolling freight and low cost policies for passengers while still offering onboard services similar to a cruise ship”. ””Cruise Olympia” confirms the revolutionary concept of transport both for passengers and rolling freight that our Group introduced on the Adriatic routes between Italy and Greece, which will unavoidably bring beneficial and long term effects to the economies of both countries linked, to European transport companies and to tourists travelling in this area of the Mediterranean Sea”, concluded Emanuele Grimaldi.

Giuseppe Bono, Fincantieri's CEO, has commented: "The launching of this ultra-modern unit, that we hope will be followed by many others, consolidates Fincantieri's strong partnership with the Grimaldi Group and its different brands, for which, in the last years, we have built more than 30 vessels". Bono has then added: ""Cruise Olympia" is a further demonstration of Fincantieri's production excellence but also of the remarkable skills and strong sense of responsibility shown by our workers in Castellammare di Stabia shipyard in the extremely difficult period the shipbuilding sector is currently going through”.

Source: Fincantieri