EuropeOperations

Zeaborn acquires E.R. Schiffahrt from Erck Rickmers

Bremen-based Zeaborn has acquired another business from the Rickmers family, announcing today a deal to buy Hamburg-based E.R. Schiffahrt from Erck Rickmers.

The deal will see Zeaborn  grow the fleet under its commercial and technical management to more than 165 vessels, while all E.R. Schiffahrt staff will also transfer to Zeaborn increasing its workforce to over 5,350 people.

Shipbroker Harper Petersen & Co is also included in the transaction, which is subject to approval by antitrust authorities. 

Nils Aden, CEO of E.R. Schiffahrt, will take overall responsible for ship management at Zeaborn while Simon Aust will continue as CEO of Harper Petersen. 

Ove Meyer and Jan-Hendrik Többe (pictured), managing partners at Zeaborn, commented: “We are very pleased that in E.R. Schiffahrt we were able to add a well-known shipping manager to our group of companies, which is a great fit for our portfolio and with whom we can further optimise our services for our customers. Our customers require flexibility, reliability and optimal transport solutions. With this fleet expansion, we can further improve both quality and quantity of our products and services to the benefit of our customers. Our approach remains the same: we are an integrated shipping company that is open for partnerships and acquisitions. Going forward, we will continue to drive further growth thanks to our clear organisa- tional structure, for example through the rapid integration of additional tonnage and businesses.”

Last February, Zeaborn Group took over the business operations and international organisation of Rickmers-Linie from Betram Rickmers, who later teamed up with Zeaborn to buy out Rickmers Shipmanagement from bust Rickmers Holding.

Grant Rowles

Grant spent nine years at Informa Group based in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore. He gained strong management experience in publishing, conferences and awards schemes in the shipping and legal areas, working on a number of titles including Lloyd's List. In 2009 Grant joined Seatrade responsible for the commercial development of Seatrade’s Asia products. In 2012, with Sam Chambers, he co-founded Asia Shipping Media.
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