Takeover of E.R. Shipping expands Zeaborn’s fleet to 165 vessels

The Zeaborn Group has acquired 100 per cent of the business shares in E.R. Schiffahrt GmbH & Cie. KG (“E.R. Schiffahrt”). With retrospective effect from 1 January 2018, E.R. Schiffahrt’s management, staff and subsidiaries, including the shipbroker Harper Petersen & Co., will be integrated into Zeaborn Group. The relevant contracts were signed by the transaction parties on 1 February 2018. The completion of the transaction is subject to antitrust clearance. The parties have agreed to keep the key financial data confidential. 

With the takeover of E.R. Schiffahrt, Zeaborn has achieved another important milestone on its way to becoming an integrated and globally operating shipping company in both line and tramp shipping: the shipping fleet under commercial and technical management has been expanded by 61 container vessels and 20 bulk carriers to more than 165 vessels.

Once E.R. Schiffahrt with all its subsidiaries and the shipbroker Harper Petersen have been integrated, the Zeaborn Group’s employee numbers will be approximately 360 staff on shore and more than 5,000 staff at sea. Having locations in Asia, Europe and the US, the company has a global presence.

“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. With this fleet expansion, we can further improve both quality and quantity of our products and services to the benefit of our customers. Going forward, we will continue to drive further growth thanks to our clear organisational structure, for example through the rapid integration of additional tonnage and businesses”, explain Ove Meyer and Jan-Hendrik Többe, the Zeaborn Group’s Managing Partners.

E.R. Schiffahrt does not own any vessels itself, but is a service company for crewing, technical management and operation of container vessels and bulk carriers. The company was established in 1998 by Erck Rickmers, employs approximately 3,000 people ashore and at sea and manages 81 vessels for international ship owners.

The Zeaborn Group was founded by Kurt Zech together with Ove Meyer and Jan Hendrik Többe in 2013. It has become an integrated shipping company operating globally that provides services along the entire value-added chain and caters for capital market requirements.

www.er-ship.com; www.zeaborn.com