A milestone for SCHRAMM group
Effective immediately, Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH, a company of SCHRAMM group, will be taking over the majority share (50.9%) of Swedish port operator and logistics company Söderhamns Stuveri & Hamn AB on 1 March. The company’s activities include running three port terminals on Sweden’s east coast, and providing logistics services for transhipments at the port facilities of three other industrial customers.
Following on from the Brunsbüttel Ports group’s constant growth in Germany in recent years, the company is taking the next big step in its long-term growth strategy by expanding into Sweden. Meeting in the Swedish town of Söderhamn, managing directors Frank Schnabel and Hans Helmut Schramm today signed the purchase agreement for Söderhamns Terminal AB, which holds 50.9% of shares in Söderhamns Stuveri & Hamn AB (SSHAB). Söderhamns Terminal AB will operate under the name of SCHRAMM Ports & Logistics Schweden AB in future. As a subsidiary of Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH, SCHRAMM Ports & Logistics Sweden AB is now the majority shareholder of SSHAB, and thus also responsible for on-site operations.
SSHAB runs three ports in the Söderhamn region on the east coast of central Sweden. It has signed a long-term operator contract with the municipality of Söderhamn, the ports’ owner, to operate the terminals. The ports of Örrskär, Stugsund and Langrör are set up as multi-purpose ports, primarily handling wood and timber products, cement, oil, chemical products and various other cargo. SSHAB is also a logistics service provider at three port facilities owned by industrial companies, where it renders port services, such as transhipment, handling and ship loading/unloading, on behalf of the respective companies. In addition to land-based port services, the Swedish company also offers waterside services. SSHAB owns and runs two tugboats which are used to assist with towing during ship manoeuvres, and which also act as icebreakers during the winter months, ensuring access ways to the ports remain clear.
Hans Helmut Schramm, owner and managing director of the SCHRAMM group, explains: “Today is a milestone in the SCHRAMM group’s history. As a medium-sized, owner-run corporate group, expanding into Sweden is very special. That’s why we’re particularly pleased to have been able to sign the contracts today, based on the constant positive developments in our business fields in recent years, especially in relation to ports.”
Frank Schnabel, managing director of the SCHRAMM group and future CEO of SCHRAMM Ports & Logistics Sweden AB, adds: “Söderhamns Stuveri & Hamn AB is the perfect addition to our port group, given its field of business. The multi-purpose port strategy we have been successfully pursuing at our German locations over the last few years will be continued in Sweden. We believe the company and Söderhamn site still have a lot of untapped potential. We also see this as an important strategic step towards developing our company in the Baltic region. Our north German sites render port, logistics and maritime services predominantly in the North Sea and Elbe region; our Rendsburg facility was the first step in the “Baltic direction” in 2012, which we are now completing with our presence in Söderhamn”.
As such, Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH continued healthy growth is set to continue. With Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH having already rendered port, logistics and maritime services at seven north German locations, it is now time for the long anticipated expansion abroad. “We have been monitoring the market in terms of sensible investment options abroad for some time now, with the focus being on Scandinavia and the Baltic region. In making this acquisition, it was crucial for us that the new company fit with the SCHRAMM group’s philosophy. The company’s fields of activity, medium-sized business structure, hands-on work approach and successful development in recent years convinced us that Söderhamns Stuveri & Hamn AB was the company we wanted to further develop and integrate into the SCHRAMM group. The step into Sweden is a historic event for the SCHRAMM group”, say both Schramm and Schnabel. SSHAB’s business operations will continue without any staffing changes, meaning all staff will keep their jobs.
About Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH
Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH, a company of the owner-run SCHRAMM group, owns and operates the Brunsbüttel port group (Elbehafen, Hafen Ostermoor and Ölhafen), operates Rendsburg Port and Glückstadt Port, and provides logistics services at two locations in Hamburg. Around 15 million tonnes of cargo was handled last year throughout the entire port group, some 12 million of which passed through the three Brunsbütteler ports. With its logistically favourable location on the Lower Elbe and the Kiel Canal, the Brunsbüttel port groups offers direct access to the North Sea and Baltic Sea, geographic proximity to Hamburg, connections to Europe’s inland waterways, and available industrial areas near ports. These location advantages, coupled with the extensive range of maritime services, make the Brunsbüttel ports an attractive transhipment hub for the largest interconnected industrial region in northern Germany and the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The core competencies applied when servicing regional, national and international customers lie in the fields of transhipment, warehousing, transit loading and project logistics.
About Söderhamns Stuveri & Hamn AB
Söderhamns Stuveri & Hamn AB is a Swedish port operator which renders ship-handling, warehousing and towing services at six different ports in the Söderhamn region. The municipally owned ports of Örrskär, Stugsund and Langrör are set up as all-purpose ports, primarily handling wood and timber products, cement, oil, chemical products and other cargo. Söderhamn Stuveri & Hamn AB has signed a long-term contract with the municipal government to operate the three ports. It also renders ship-handling logistics services at the port facilities of three other industrial customers.
The company’s main shareholder is SCHRAMM Ports & Logistics Sweden AB, a subsidiary of German-based Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH. Its other shareholders are Söderhamn Kommun, Vallviks Bruk AB and HML Shipping.
