Italy’s Grimaldi Group has labelled its €2bn ($2.34bn) investment in newbuildings, retrofits and lengthenings as “the price of survival”.

The eye-catching figure is what the Naples-based company has invested over the past four years in a series of ro-ro and ropax projects.

To date, €1.5bn has been set aside for the construction of 25 environmentally friendly newbuildings.

A further €300m has been dedicated to about 150 retrofits on its existing fleet.