Contship News

Italian container terminal, intermodal & logistics operator Contship Italia Group has appointed Alfredo Scalisi as the new General Manager of its flagship container terminal at La Spezia. His appointment was effective on July 1, 2019.Scalisi will report directly to Group President Mrs. Cecilia Battistello, who is currently covering an interim corporate role as managing director of Operations and Sales of Contship Italia Group.Scalisi previously held the role of Deputy General Manager at Gioia Tauro for the Medcenter Container Terminal up until May 2019 and has a strong professional background in various management roles in the energy…

Contship Italia Group confirms its intermodal vocation, both for continental and maritime cargo – and for the latter, a collaboration between Terminal Container Ravenna (TCR) and Hannibal will offer an intermodal opportunity for the territory of Ravenna.Local companies that have developed business in northern Europe during 2019 – and with Rotterdam in particular, have already seized the new connection as an opportunity.The link will be made available by Contship Italia Group’s MTO Hannibal, connecting Ravenna with central an northern Europe through RHM – Rail Hub Milano, the intermodal platform located in Melzo (Milan).Intermodal activity is becoming a service of great value for TCR – the gateway is in fact equipped with five rail tracks…

With the arrival of the MSC Trieste,  Contship’s La Spezia Container Terminal  (LSCT) greeted the maiden voyage of the “revised” Dragon/AE20 service from Asia operated by 2M joint partners, MSC and Maersk Line.Like its predecessor, the service calls La Spezia as its first gateway port call in the West Mediterranean, taking advantage of the connectivity throughout Italy as well as southern Europe.The number of port calls in the rotation has been reduced to improve schedule integrity and overall service efficiency. Built in 2011 and over 365m in length the MSC Trieste has a deadweight of almost 155,000 tons and a nominal capacity of 13…

Contship Italia SpA has sold its 50 percent share in the southern Italian port of Gioia Tauro, which includes the Medcenter Container Terminal (MCT).A press release said: "Contship, a fully controlled subsidiary of Terminal Investment Ltd (TIL) have executed a share purchase agreement concerning the sale of 50% of CSM Italia Gate S.p.A., the company which owns 100% of MCT."MCT is the concessionaire of the container terminal activities in the port of Gioia Tauro and TIL already owned 50% of CSM Italia Gate S.p.A.The parties involved are not disclosing terms. Regulatory approvals are still pending.At closing, TIL will own 100% of CSM Italia Gate S.p.A. and will indirectly control all the shares of MCT.Contship Italia S.p.A.

Contship Italia Group has been pulling all the stops to increase its intermodal offering during the past months.Italy’s leading service provider for integrated global supply chains said that its Rail Hub Milano (RHM) and its gateway ports La Spezia and Ravenna serve as backbone of the Group’s growing intermodal network.La Spezia is geographically located within a range of 320 km from the key economic regions in Italy, accounting for over 47% of the total Italian GDP. RHM is located in Melzo, just outside the city of Milan at the heart of consumer and industrial regions. Ravenna is the natural gateway for East Med flows exchanged via the Adriatic Sea, the Italian container terminal operator said.This year has seen numerous service additions from RHM to various locations across Europe.

Natalia A container ship that belongs to Turkish ARKAS shipping line is docked in Contship Ravenna – the Contship Italia Group gateway on the Adriatic Sea. The Natalia A is deployed on the ADS service (Adriatic Service) that connects Ravenna with Istanbul, Gemlik, Piraeus, Izmir, Beirut, Mersin, Aleksandria and Lattakia, on a weekly basis. “We are delighted to see that a shipping line such as Arkas has chosen the Ravenna Terminal as a partner to expand container traffic, offering fundamental connections with Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Greece and Syria” explain Giannantonio Mingozzi (President of the Terminal) and Riccardo Sabadini (President of Sapir).

Despite the grey clouds and rain that fell over the weekend in La Spezia, the YM Warmth making only her second call brought a splash of colour to the terminal when it discharged from Asia a brand new ONE container, showing off the bright new magenta livery.   The ship is deployed in THE Alliance’s MD2 service and is one of a series of 14,000 teu ships operated by Yang Ming Line of Taiwan.   Effective from April 1, ONE will become the new shipping line formed as a result of the merged container divisions of the big three Japanese lines, namely “K” Line, NYK and MOL.   The corporate color scheme adopted by the new company brightened up the day at Contship Italia’s La Spezia Container Terminal.

Vessel sales for July 2017 (as of August 1) as prepared by Shipping Intelligence, Inc., New York.

Contship Italia Group, Italy’s leading maritime container terminal and intermodal operator saw an increase in handled volume of 1.7% and 9.7% increase in transported volumes for 2016. The group’s Maritime Container Terminal business saw an increase of 109,000 TEUs in overall handling volumes in 2016, welcoming 6,888 vessel calls, up 4% year on year. Contship’s intermodal business reported an overall rise in transported volumes and directly operated number of trains. Innovative fast customs corridors, an improved load factor of domestic trains in the second half of the year, plus the increased routing of cargo via the southern gateway to south and central Europe, have all supported an increased market share of 25% in the Italian maritime intermodal business.

EUROGATE can look back on a good financial year, 2015. Despite difficult market conditions the European terminal operators Group increased its net profit by 13.4 percent to EUR 73.5 million (prior year EUR 64.9 million). Container handling at the German EUROGATE locations grew faster than the market. In Bremerhaven, Wilhelmshaven and Hamburg EUROGATE 2015 hit with 8.2 million standard containers (TEU) 1.5 percent more boxes in order as 2014. The entire North Range ports recorded in the same period dropped by 1.6 percent. The total amount of the turned-up in the European group_container totaled 14.5 million TEU two percent on the previous year and corresponded to the market development: The total throughput of European ports 2015 was also increased by two percent rückläufig1.

Effective 1 February 2016, Marco Simonetti assumes the position of Vice President for Developments and Reorganization at Contship Italia Group. The internal re-organization is in line with Contship’s response to evolving challenges of the container business and the Group’s commitment to deliver new opportunities in all its national and international activities. “The need for constant and targeted improvements in Contship’s global efficiency requires specific focus and exclusive commitment. Marco Simonetti, in his new role, will achieve further significant goals which are imperative to consolidate Contship’s leadership both in Italy and abroad,” says Cecilia Eckelmann-Battistello, President of Contship Italia Group.

Continuing support from key markets across Asia helped Contship Italia Group, the leading container terminal and intermodal transport operator in Italy, to report a steady set of results for 2015. Contship Italia Group terminals handled a total of 6.3 million TEUs last year on the back of increased volumes at La Spezia Container Terminal (LSCT), its main gateway for Asian cargo. LSCT, with four weekly calls from China, the Far East, and South East Asia, continues the positive trend that has seen Asia trade via La Spezia increase by 3.5% on the previous year (up 19% over the past five years). In 2015, 197 of 938 total calls at LSCT were associated with Asia services offered by the 2M, O3 and CKYHE alliances handling vessels in the 10,000-14,000 TEU capacity range.

Senior executives from Italy’s La Spezia Container Terminal - Contship Italia Group, wrapped up a whirlwind tour of key supply chain hubs in South East Asia and China this week with a presentation and networking event in Shanghai. The purpose of the tour was to engage with logistics providers, freight forwarders and manufacturers to raise awareness and promote the benefits of La Spezia Homeport as the cargo gateway to Italy, Southern and Central Europe. "We have emerged from this tour, which took in Singapore, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Shanghai, with the belief that it has provided an ideal opportunity for the global supply chain in these areas,” said Michael Cashman, Commercial Director of Contship Italia Group Maritime Terminals, “…..

In Singapore, senior executives from Italy's La Spezia Container Terminal - Contship Italia Group will kick off a tour of key cargo hubs across south east and east Asia today to raise awareness and promote the benefits of La Spezia Homeport as the gateway to Northern Italy and its main cargo corridors. La Spezia is promoting the concept that La Spezia Container Terminal is a viable alternative for southern and central Europe for leading players in the region's supply chain sector. "We are conducting a series of regional presentations for personally invited decision makers in the logistics and supply chain sectors, after which our guests can network with us and each other on an informal basis to discuss the issues currently occupying thoughts on sea borne Asia-Mediterranean cargo…

La Spezia Container Terminal (LSCT), Contship Italia Group’s flagship gateway to Northern and Central Italy, Southern Europe and beyond is the first Italian regional container terminal to deploy supersized gantry cranes to operate both ships of today and tomorrow. Initially contracted in November 2013, two brand new 23 row gantry cranes arrived on site at the end of March this year for final assembly and commissioning. Final “soft” operating tests on ships took place between July 17th – 18th, thereafter they were moved into their final positioning on the quay. Further tests on 10,000 TEU ships took place between July 20th – 31st. A customized design of the gantry cranes was realized by the Italian partner OMG-MGM in order to meet the technical specification of the berth at the terminal…

Contship Italia Spa, also on behalf of Eurogate GmbH & Co. KGaA, KG, recently signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U.) with Sina Port & Marine Company (SPMCO), part of SINA Group which is one of the largest Iranian companies, with interests in various economic activities, such as health care, pension, banking, logistic infrastructure, ports and maritime activities as well as manufacturing and insurance. SPMCO is a public company, organized and existing under Iranian law. SPMCO is the largest port operator in Iran (listed in the Teheran stock exchange) and affiliate company of Bonyad Mostafazan Foundation (BMF) known also as BOBACO which was established in 1997 and is today  one of the largest holding company of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Contship Italia Group to implement Navis SPARCS N4 Terminal Operating System (TOS)  at five of its terminals. Navis, a part of Cargotec Corporation announce that Contship Italia Group (CSI) group will implement Navis SPARCS N4 at its five terminals. Contship Italia Group, part of Eurokai, is the largest Italian terminal operator, handling more than 5.1 million TEUs in the Mediterranean region in 2012. DSP, Data and System Planning, a Navis Implementation Partner and IT services provider for ports and terminals, will lead the five terminal Navis SPARCS N4 implementation project. By 2016, Contship Italia Group terminals will be using the industry’s most advanced terminal operating system (TOS)…

Adriatic Gate Container Terminal (AGCT), International Container Terminal Services, Inc.’s (ICTSI) container handling facility in the Port of Rijeka, Croatia, recently launched China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co.’s (COSCO), Adriatic–Greece–Turkey service (AGT) when COSCO selected AGCT as the first port of call of the service. The AGCT launch was marked by the maiden call of Contship Eco last 24 February. The service, which directly connects Rijeka with Greek and Turkish ports, also links the Northern Adriatic ports with Piraeus, Greece. For Rijeka, the AGT service presents huge trade opportunities, especially for imports. Contship Eco, together with two other vessels deployed to the service…

1801- Treaty of peace with France was ratified on this date, thereby ending the "Quasi-War," in which cutters of the Revenue Marine had rendered outstanding service. 1880- Date of a terrific gale on the New Jersey coast. Six vessels came ashore with 47 persons on board all but two survived. Nineteen USLSS crewmen won Gold Life-Saving Medals during the rescue of the persons aboard the wrecked George Taulane. 1943- A U-boat torpedoed the transport USS Dorchester off the coast of Greenland. Two of her escorts, CGCs Comanche and Escanaba, responded. The crew of Escanaba used a new rescue technique when pulling survivors from the water. This "retriever" technique used swimmers clad in wet suits to swim to victims in the water and secure a line to them so they could be hauled onto the ship.

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has gained an order to supply ten electric straddle carriers to its long standing customer Medcenter Container Terminal (MCT), part of the Contship Italia Group, in Gioia Tauro, Italy. The order was booked into Kalmar's second quarter order intake with deliveries scheduled for November 2014. The latest order sees Kalmar strengthen an already long standing relationship with MCT. Currently handling an annual 3 million TEUs, the transshipment hub continues to grow and is now considered to be the "Mega Hub "in the South Europe region, with both global reach to all major markets and regional connections on a weekly basis with over 60 ports throughout the Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian, Aegean and Black Sea.

Contship Italia Group has received a Life Time Achievement Award for Cecilia Eckelmann-Battistello, President of the Group and member of the board of Eurokai GmbH & Co. KgaA, the majority shareholder of Contship Italia SpA. The award has been bestowed during the 2015 Containerisation International Global Awards ceremony, held in London June 18th. Cecilia, continuing in the footsteps of the Group’s founder, has been flying the flag of the Italian company for more than four decades, having joint the Group in 1973, experiencing an incredible journey in the industry as it unfolded, becoming the Contship’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer on 1996.

Liverpool-based maritime advisory firm and consultancy Focus Maritime (North West) Limited has been appointed to promote Canada's Halifax Port Authority across Europe. The move by the Nova Scotia-based authority is aimed at strengthening its presence across the continent and sees Liverpool-based Graham Fraser take on the role of director, business development and growth - Europe. Strategically located as North America's first inbound and last outbound gateway, the Port of Halifax is a deep, wide, ice-free harbor.

1801- Treaty of peace with France was ratified on this date, thereby ending the "Quasi-War," in which cutters of the Revenue Marine had rendered outstanding service. 1880- Date of a terrific gale on the New Jersey coast. Six vessels came ashore with 47 persons on board all but two survived. Nineteen USLSS crewmen won Gold Life-Saving Medals during the rescue of the persons aboard the wrecked George Taulane. 1943- A U-boat torpedoed the transport USS Dorchester off the coast of Greenland. Two of her escorts, CGCs Comanche and Escanaba, responded. The crew of Escanaba used a new rescue technique when pulling survivors from the water. This "retriever" technique used swimmers clad in wet suits to swim to victims in the water and secure a line to them so they could be hauled onto the ship.