The port of Vigo hosted this Thursday the first call in Europe of the Grande Auckland, the new state-of-the-art Pure Car & Truck Carrier (PCTC) from the Grimaldi Group, designed to offer high standards of energy efficiency and sustainability.
With a length of 200 meters and a beam of 38, it has a capacity to transport up to 9,241 vehicles. Furthermore, the Grande Auckland reduces CO₂ emissions per unit transported by up to 50% compared to previous ships. It has the Ammonia Ready certification, which will allow the future use of ammonia as a carbon-free fuel, and is equipped with cold ironing, connecting to the electrical grid during its stay in port to minimize its environmental impact.
Present at the presentation at the Bouzas Ro-Ro Terminal were Captain Giuseppe Ferranti, Sebastiano Cirnigliaro, Commercial Manager Automotive Division Spain for Grimaldi, and Carlos Botana, president of the Port Authority of Vigo. The event highlighted the importance of Vigo as a strategic node in Grimaldi Group’s Asia-Europe network, also reinforced by the Grande Tianjin, another new-generation vessel.
Sebastiano Cirnigliaro explained that the arrival of the Grande Auckland in Vigo represents “a firm step towards the future of responsible and efficient navigation.” Cirnigliaro also underlined the importance of the collaboration with the port of Vigo and highlighted the operational results achieved in recent periods.
For his part, the president of the Port Authority of Vigo emphasized the high connectivity of the *ría* of Vigo which, thanks to Grimaldi, has made Vigo a linking port for its new Asia-Europe chains dedicated to the automotive sector.
On its inaugural voyage, the Grande Auckland unloaded 120 Peugeot vehicles from China and loaded 500 Stellantis units bound for Japan.
