Italian shipping group to establish base in Ireland

International shipping group d'Amico Società di Navigazione has chosen Ireland as its home base for its international shipping and financial operations.

The Italian group will operate more than 60 vessels by 2006 mainly in the oil and chemical tankers as well as dry cargo markets.

In its tanker division alone, the company ranks as one of the world's top 10 largest product tanker companies.

The company's managing director, Cesare d'Amico said today :"We are confident that the Irish Government's recent maritime initiatives fit with our own corporate goals and Ireland can emulate in the maritime sector what it has achieved in ICT and Financial Services."

Peter Cahill has been appointed as the general manager of d'Amico Ireland with responsibility for establishing and developing the operations of the Irish Group.

John Browne the Minister of State at the Department of the Marine said today: "We are delighted that D'Amico have chosen to develop their business operations in Ireland.

"The company has a massive fleet expansion programme and has invested significantly in service and safety having recently been awarded several International Standards Certificates for service delivery and environmental management systems, such as ISO 9001:2000 and SQE.

"They are exactly the type of operation that recent Government initiatives are designed to attract," Browne added.