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Bertram Rickmers taps Zeaborn to keep shipping ambitions alive

Bertram Rickmers has found a way to keep his shipping ambitions alive. The famous Hamburg owner has teamed up with Bremen-based Zeaborn Group to buy out the shipmanagement arm of bust Rickmers Holdings.

Splash understands a number of large international shipmanagers were circling for Rickmers’ third party management, but an all-German deal was hatched which keeps Bertram Rickmers in the business. His shipping group had filed for insolvency in June.

Rickmers’ shipmanagement arm has offices in Hamburg, Singapore and Cyprus.

“The bidding consortium’s aim is to expand the ship management activities and to invest in further growth,” the pair said in a release. No specific price was given, merely a mention that it was in the “double-digit millions”.

“As part of an overall solution, it is intended that the consortium also takes over the remaining business units of the Rickmers Group via an insolvency plan,” the pair added.

Zeaborn was founded in 2013 and has focused on the MPP space. With Rickmers’ downfall being protracted and well telegraphed, Zeaborn took over the MPP company Rickmers-Linie in February.

“With the takeover of Rickmers Shipmanagement we achieved another milestone in our company development. The target was from beginning to be an integrated shipmanager with more than 100 vessels under management,” Zeaborn’s co-founders Over Meyer and Jan Többe told Splash today in a joint statement.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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