Columbia Shipmanagement sets up Norwegian joint venture with Seatrans

NORWAY : Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM) has entered into a strategic partnership with Norwegian shipowner and operator Seatrans to establish a joint venture company that will operate out of Seatrans’ offices in Bergen, Norway from this month.

The joint venture will be named Stödig Ship Management, and all Seatrans’ staff will remain employed in the company.

Mark O’Neil, president and CEO of CSM, said: “In Columbia Shipmanagement we recognise the particular expertise and skill sets associated with managing ships in the hard chemical trades and other special tonnage markets. Stödig Ship Management has that expertise which we can build upon with existing and new client opportunities.

“It also opens the door to the Scandinavian and North European offshore and energy sectors which are crying out for alternative quality management service providers, able to bring in levels of digital optimisation, scalability and a variety of platform services,” he added.

Gisle Rong, who will continue in his existing role as managing director of Stödig, stated: “In Columbia we have a partner who not only recognises and respects the Scandinavian market and culture, but also enables us to achieve economies of scale, digitalisation, investment in support services which we could not previously have considered.

“We are determined to continue to develop our technical management and crewing services for chemical tankers, toro, offshore/energy as well as bulkers and product tankers,” he said.

Source : Splash247.com