Grimaldi's Cruise Roma cruise ferry will be launched in the coming days, offering a 20-hour service between Rome and Barcelona. The 225-metre ship offers speeds of 30 knots but a standard of cabin and facilities you would expect in a cruise liner, including a casino and leisure centre. The vessel also offers considerable cargo space, increasing capacity on the route by 70 per cent once the Cruise Roma and her sister ship the Cruise Barcelona are both deployed.

This means that the equivalent of 70,000 trucks will be diverted off to the motorway network onto the sea, as part of the European Commission's strategy to promote Motorways of the Seas.

Grimaldi has two other similar ships on order with specialist Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri.