Grandi Navi Veloci
Grandi Navi Veloci is an Italian shipping company, based in Genoa, that operates ferries between mainland Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, France, Albania, Morocco and Tunisia. Established by Aldo Grimaldi in 1992, it is one of the major ferry companies of the Mediterranean.
History
GNV was created in 1992 by Aldo Grimaldi, initially as a subsidiary of Grimaldi Group. The first ship of the company, Majestic, entered service in 1993 on the Genoa-Palermo route, followed in 1994 by the sistership Splendid on the Genoa-Porto Torres route. Majestic and Splendid were the first cruiseferries ever operated by an Italian company, and soon obtained considerable success.
The fleet was enlarged with new cruiseferries through the 1990s, and in 2000 the company went public. New routes were added, including Livorno-Palermo, Genoa-Olbia and Genoa-Barcelona. In 2002 and 2003 the new cruiseferries La Superba and La Suprema entered service; they were the largest ferries in the Mediterranean at the time of their completion. Lines for Tunisia, as well a new Civitavecchia-Palermo line, were opened.
In 2008 the fleet was enlarged with three ro-ro cargo ships, Audacia, Tenacia, and Coraggio, and a new Genoa-Barcelona-Tangier line was opened. In 2009, GNV became fully independent from the Grimaldi family and Grimaldi Group. In 2010 the company was acquired by the MSC Group; in the same year, GNV merged with SNAV, also a subsidiary of MSC. In 2012, following the ceasing of the services by Comarit and Comanav, GNV opened new lines between Sète, Tangier and Nador. In 2015, GNV opened a new line between Italy and Albania.
The company currently operates a fleet of twelve cruiseferries, including some of the largest ferries in Europe.
Current fleet
- La Superba (49,270 GRT, built 2002)
- La Suprema (49,270 GRT, built 2003)
- Excelsior (39,739 GRT, built 1998)
- Excellent (39,739 GRT, built 1998)
- Fantastic (35,186 GRT, built 1996)
- Splendid (39,139 GRT, built 1994)
- Majestic (32,777 GRT, built 1993)
- GNV Atlas (33,336 GRT, built 1990)
- GNV Cristal (33,336 GRT, built 1989)
- Rhapsody (44,307 GRT, built 1996)
- GNV Azzurra (29,706 GRT, built 1981)