Icelandic shipping, Eimskip, Lithuania's Kursiu Linija, Finnish shipping and Container Finance to create one of Europe's largest door-to-door logistics providers
The new joint-venture company Containerships Group will be based in Helsinki and will operate eleven ships on services linking east and west Europe, the Baltic States and Russia. It will be the cornerstone of a much larger alliance including the services of its parent companies.
Eimskip, which earlier this year completed the purchase of Kursiu Linija, has purchased 65 per cent of Containerships Group, the shipowning and logistics arm of Finland's Container Finance Ltd. Kursiu Linija will become a subsidiary of Containerships Group. The operations of Containerships Group and Kursiu Linija will be integrated to improve service and achieve synergies, but each will retain its trading identity.
The two companies will jointly operate 11 vessels in the Baltic Sea region, have an annual turnover of about 200 million euros and will employ more than 500 people. The vessels, with frequent sailing schedules, serve major ports in Russia (St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad) the Baltic States (Klaipeda, Liepaja and Gdansk) and in Europe (including. Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Teesport and Immingham).