Built by Fincantieri Italiani at Castellammare as Yard Number 5987 in 1995 she is 181.2m long with a 32m beam and 9.4m maximum draught.
She is the lead ship in the Grande Europa Class which consists of three vessels and has a Ro-Ro capacity of 2,000m.
GT = 51714, NT 17155 and DWT 18427.
Powered by a Sulzer 7RTA62U (15545 kW, 21,141 bhp) engine with a single propeller she has a service speed of 18.5 knots.
The vessel is owned and operated by the Grimaldi Group which was
established in 1947 when Guido Grimaldi and his four brothers set up the
business using a liberty ship. During the 1960's the company expanded into
freight and tanker operations as well as in the late 60's the transporting of vehicles. The company operates throughout Europe, West Africa and South America.
I have seen quite a few Grimaldi vehicle carriers and had previously seen Grande Europa before whilst on holiday on the Isle of Wight in August 2009. In fact looking through my records all the vessels were seen from this part of the World presumably delivering vehicles to Southampton apart from Grand Benelux which I saw moored in Bristol.
MMSI - 247206000
REG - IT, Palermo
IMO - 9138381
Call Sign - ICGE
Vehicles Carrier
Built - Fincantieri, Italiani, Castellammare, IT
Yard Number- 5987
L 181.2 W 32
GT - 51714
Year - 1995
Salerno, 8 June 2012