Russian boxship line Fesco has taken over feeder player ESF Group of the Netherlands
The two sides have created a new company called Fesco ESF, in which the Russian owner will hold 70%. No price has been revealed fro the deal. The venture will own ESF Euroservices’ Baltic feeder services between Continental Europe and Russia. ESF operates eight ships between ports in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, Russia, Finland and the Baltic states. Its total 2006 container volume exceeded 130,000 teu. Fesco had been looking to seal a takeover in recent weeks and had been linked to Dutch operation Holland Maas, which was sold to a mystery buyer in June. “The establishment of Fesco ESF is yet another step in the implementation of the group’s strategy to create a national leader in container operations, able to offer a full spectrum of integrated services," said Fesco CEO Evgeny Ambrosov. “By completing this transaction, we made a strategically important entry into the Baltic line container shipping market.”