[ CONTSHIP GROUP ACGUIRES NEW SERVICE ]

The Contship Group has acquired the Europe-South America Service of Pr
o Line, part of the Cremer Gruppe based in Hamburg.
The acquisition sees Contship enter into the container trade between E
urope and the East Coast South America where Pro Line currently operat
es in a joint service with Ivaran of Norway and CSAV of Chile.
Negotiations of the agreement between the Cremer Gruppe and Contship w
ere successfully concluded on the grounds of both companies sharing ma
ny common business objectives, values and philosophies.
The Contship Group, founded in 1969, today operates established contai
ner services in many trades, along with its significant involvement in
container terminals and intermodal services, including the Gioia Taur
o Medcenter Container Terminal in Southern Italy, which opened in Sept
ember 1995 and is now viewed by many as the premier Mediterranean hub
port.
In acquiring the Pro Line service, Contship Containerlines continue th
eir expansion into North/South container trades. A company spokesman i
s quoted as saying “Contship have been considering entry into a numbe
r of new markets for some time and south America has been one of the m
arkets under consideration”.