Grimaldi U.S./Africa ro/ro service gets new ship

Grimaldi U.S./Africa ro/ro service gets new ship    The Grimaldi Group said Thursday it will introduce a new multipurpose roll-on/roll-off vessel on its North America-West Africa ro/ro and container service.
   The Grande Marocco will make its maiden voyage on the service in mid-June. Ports called on the service are Jacksonville, Fla; Savannah, Ga.; Baltimore; New York; Boston; Dakar, Senegal; Cotonou, Benin; Lome, Togo; Lagos, Nigeria; and Tema, Ghana.
   Dakar is used as a hub for feedering freight with Grimaldi tonnage, which directly serves West Africa from North Europe. With the replacement of a car carrier and the introduction of the Grande Marocco in the U.S. trade to West Africa, the frequency of the service for the transport of containers will improve from 21 to 14 days, the carrier said. The new vessel allows the loading of cargo units up to 250 tons. It can accommodate any kind of rolling, containerized and project cargo.
   Atlantic Container Line (ACL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Grimaldi Group is general agent for the service, which started in 2006.