History of M.A. Grendi since 1828: 190 years of challenges and innovations
M.A. Grendi was founded in 1828 in Genoa by Marco Antonio Grendi as a shipping company and has retained this name since then, even when it passed into the hands of the Musso family, heirs of the founders, with the aim of emphasizing continuity as an asset, in the best tradition of Italian family businesses. A continuity spanning almost two centuries, through a series of constant transformations, from shippers to ship owners to integrated logisticians, always in the name of innovation. Up to the today’s generation, the sixth. Over the last five decades, since Bruno Musso and his brother Giorgio began the activity of shipowners, the company went through a series of technological, entrepreneurial, and organizational innovations and breakthroughs: in 1967 Grendi was the first Italian company to launch container ships and in 1980-1990 it designed and assembled 5 container ships called “Tarros-class” which, thanks to an on-board overhead crane, were capable of unloading in unequipped ports in Africa and on the Mediterranean
In the 80s of the last century, Bruno Musso, president of the Confitarma Port Commission, participated in the port reform defined by law 84/1994.
In 1992 the company was among the first private terminal operators of the Port of Genoa; in 1994 it made a container-compatible pallet, the “24.5”, with a loading capability of 18 pallets or 44 cubic meters of goods. These measures will be used also by the EILU (European Intermodal Load Unit) in 2003.
In 1997 the sixth generation took over, with Eugenio, Costanza and Antonio reorganizing the Group and working in Genoa, Milan and Cagliari respectively.
In 1997 the sixth generation took over, with Eugenio, Costanza and Antonio reorganizing the Group and working in Genoa, Milan and Cagliari respectively.
In 1998 Grendi became the first terminal operator to work in the Cagliari Channel port and since then it has consolidated its specialized logistics position in Sardinia, where he handles transport, distribution and operates a cargo maritime line to Cagliari, where in 2013 a the new warehouse was inaugurated.
In 2016, Grendi started operating in Marina di Carrara, where it obtained a twenty-year concession.
Also in 2016, it introduced the cassette technology into the logistic cycle, a revolutionary system for loading and unloading container ships, which makes it possible to optimize port operations and handle 120 containers at once, instead of 30.
Thanks to that, it takes one ship instead of two to cover the same route with the same departures, boosting the transportation and warehousing business.
The PORTOLAB project in Marina di Carrara starts in 2017 and has already involved 1,000 primary school pupils and helped them understand how a port works.
In May 2018, Grendi opened, in partnership with ProCargo Line, a new route to Tunisia, connecting through the ports of Sousse, Sfax and Zarzis.
