Grande Congo Departs Maryland July 2, 2019

This 211x32m (692×105) ConRo (Container/Roro) ship was built in 2010 by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan, South Korea according to BalticShipping.com. She is owned by Grimaldi Deep Sea and managed by Grimaldi Group, both based in Napoli, Italy.

She is one of five Grande Marocco class ships and can carry up to 800 TEUs and 2,000 cars. This list shows all of their various classes of ships. ACL’s G4 class ships are included because ACL is owned by Grimaldi Group.

For those with really good eyes or know how to zoom in with their web browser this page shows the Grande Congo’s current schedule which shows which cities she will be visiting.

Check out this fascinating video of her bulbuous bow being replaced in August of 2018 by Besiktas Shipyard in Turkey! Also check out this travelogue of a mom and two step sons returning to the US from Italy aboard this ship in July of 2017. Click here to book your own vacation on one of Grimaldi’s cargo ships! This Grimaldi Newsletter has a short article about the delivery of this ship along with a lot of other interesting information.

In the video below she can be seen departing Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore, Maryland. In the second scene the pilot can be seen disembarking onto the pilot boat Vedette. Note that many of her mostly ACL containers are sitting “sidways” on deck. As she nears the camera look aft the bridge and note the automobiles on deck! As she passes under the Key Bridge note the helicopter appearing above the ship but below the bridge. In the final scenes the roro ship Victoria Highway can be seen on the Chesapeake Bay ahead.

In addition to the Victoria Highway which departed ahead of her I also saw the spliethoff general cargo shit Fortunagracht arrive.

You can view my photography (more than just ships!) here and more videos here.