d’Amico Group Launches its Largest Ship

Italian shipowner d’Amico Group today celebrated the delivery and naming of its new handy-cape type vessel, Cielo d’Italia, a ship that it labeled as “the largest and most innovative ship in the history of the group.”

Built at the Sanoyas Shipbuilding Corporation’s shipyard in Mizushima, the 117,000 DWT, 245m long and 43m wide Cielo d’Italia is the result of multiyear collaboration between two companies who worked very closely to design a ship characterized by effective design particulars, respect for the environment and energy efficiency, capable of reducing consumption and emissions by 20%, compared to other ships operating in the same segment, the shipowner explained. As a result of the cooperation with the design department of Sanoyas shipyard, the vessel will benefit from the expansion of the Panama Canal, covering the global routes of the dry cargo industry. 

The value of the order for Cielo d’Italia and its handy cape sister, which will be delivered in the first quarter of 2016, is approximately $100 million, benefitting from the prevailing favorable weakening of the yen against the dollar, the owner noted. 

The d’Amico Group said the new ships are part of the most significant development plan in its history. For the 2014-2016 period, the group has invested approximately $1.2 billion by ordering 38 new ships, both bulkers and tanker vessels.

Over the years, the project born in 2008 underwent several revisions by d’Amico Group with the aim of further improving the efficiency profile of the handy-capes vessels available on the market. Thanks to the work of the two technical offices as well as that of the trading company Mitsui & Co., in 2013 the ship was completely redesigned and equipped with a latest generation fully electronic engine system, featuring automatic control for optimizing consumption.

The choice of d’Amico Group to focus on the construction of two new generation handy-cape vessels is motivated by versatility of this type of vessel, larger than the traditional Post-Panamax vessels though smaller than the Cape vessels, the owner explained. In fact, the ships’ versatility in terms of size and loadable capacity allows for multiple uses as regards both the type of goods transported and the routes covered. 

The characteristics will also enable d’Amico Dry, the company that will operate the vessel on a short period time charter for the transportation of raw materials, mainly coal and minerals, to increase the profitability and market attractiveness of its international routes.