Minoan Lines, the Crete-based ferry company, has entered 2017 without the two largest vessels in its operation after their charters from parent Grimaldi Group were allowed to expire at the start of January.
Napoli-based Emanuele Grimaldi-led ferry owner redelivered two ships serving the Greece-Italy route to its sister company Grimaldi Euromed and Minoan announced the change, which leaves it without a vessel in the cross-Adriatic and with more focus on Greek market where it is operating the Piraeus-Iraklio routes with the Knossos Palace and Festos Palace.
At the same time, Grimaldi Group has revealed that it has enhanced its Greece-Italy link service by including Venice after January across the Ancona-Igoumenitsa-Patras line, until now carried out daily by Cruise Europa and Cruise Olympia.
In an official announcement to the Athens Stock Exchange, Minoan Lines noted that it will stop covering the Patras-Ancona route after 35 years as charter of Cruise Europa (photo) and Cruise Olympia have ended, essentially being deprived of an estimated 104 million euros from its Adriatic income, which will now be running under Euromed’s umbrella.
Minoan Lines is already holding a 48.4 percent stake in ferry services provider Hellenic Seaways (HSW) while targeting another 40.4 percent which is up for sale after shareholder Piraeus Bank announced an open international tender.
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