The port will be included in the twice-weekly service which has been connecting the ports of Antwerp and Cork since May
Naples, 23 July 2021: A few weeks after its launch, the Grimaldi Group enriches its ro-ro feeder service between Belgium and Ireland with a new call in Zeebrugge.
As from next Saturday 24 July, thanks to its new schedule, the service will offer two departures a week from the port of Zeebrugge and one from that of Antwerp with destination Cork and vice versa.
In the port of Zeebrugge, the Grimaldi Group will call at the terminal of P&O Ferries, and the cooperation with this shipping company will be extended to commercial activity as well. Thanks to the new call in Zeebrugge, even more efficient freight flows will be guaranteed, with even more competitive, safe and eco-sustainable connections compared to the UK land bridge.
Besides Zeebrugge, the port of Antwerp will continue to be served. This is the Grimaldi Group’s main hub in Northern Europe, from where freight can be transshipped to reach the over 140 ports included in the network of connections offered by the Neapolitan shipping company.
The vessel deployed on the Zeebrugge-Antwerp-Cork service is the Italian-flagged ro-ro unit Eurocargo Bari, which has a length of 200 meters, a width of 26.5 meters, a gross tonnage of 32,632 tonnes and a service speed of 23 knots. Thanks to her hoistable decks, she can transport 3,850 linear meters of rolling freight and 200 cars.
The Eurocargo Bari is a modern, eco-friendly ro-ro ship that will significantly improve the carbon footprint of freight flows between Ireland and the European Continent. Furthermore, with both Antwerp and Zeebrugge being strategically located and easily accessible from production sites in Belgium, the Netherlands, Northern France and Germany, the service will generate even greater environmental benefits, as trucks and trailers will cover shorter distances by road.
“The addition of the port of Zeebrugge to the Grimaldi service network takes place at a historic moment for the Northern European economy,” said the Neapolitan Group’s Managing Director Emanuele Grimaldi. “We have decided to further optimize trades between the Continent and Ireland, offering our industrial customers a double choice for loading and improving transit time, in order to strengthen the Antwerp-Zeebrugge port axis as a logistics, maritime and industrial hub.“
