Contship Containerlines

History

In 1968 Dr. Angelo Ravano founded Contship SA in Switzerland. The company's first sailing was undertaken by the M.V. Sea Maid from Fos to Casablanca in October 1969.

During 1970 an agency arm was set up in Milan and terminal operations were started at La Spezia. Some 8,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) were handled in the first year. The following years saw the seeds grow quickly and a European network with subsidiaries in Spain and the Netherlands in 1973 and 1974 were built up. The transfer of the agency representation in Milan to Genoa in 1974 was accompanied by the expansion of the service portfolio to eastern Mediterranean ports. In 1976 Ellerman City Liners appointed Contship's agency arm in Portugal.

1977 two important steps were made with the formation of a UK subsidiary and the launch of the first direct container service between Europe and India. This move reflected the ambitions to become a significant player on key routes. In becoming the first shipping line to handle containers in Bombay (now Mumbai), the die was cast for a pioneering approach to container shipping. More experience of working partnerships was gained from 1979 through the formation of the Contship Gulf Line as a joint service agreement with Ellerman City Lines - a new service that linked Europe with the Near East.

In the second decade, the company's development quickened apace. In moving their headquarters from Switzerland to Felixstowe and then Ipswich, Contship became a firm part of the UK's shipping establishment. The early 80s saw Contship expanding and widening their interests. In Spain, they won the agency representation for Trans Freight Lines. In the UK, they shared in the setting up of Arrowfreight, a freight forwarding operation. Meanwhile, a group holding company was established in Curaçao. All simple steps in enhancing the company's international presence and reputation.

Eagle Container Line linking North Europe and the Mediterranean with Australia commenced in 1982 as a non-conference service gave customers the choice of a competitively priced an equally reliable option. With new agency companies in France and Italy, the start of the Eurasia Container Line and the introduction of 1000 TEU vessels into the Eagle service, 1985 was a busy year. In terms of becoming a global operator, 1986 was especially significant as it saw the formation of Ocean Star Container Line, operating a westbound round-the world service. The following year saw the commencement of the Medipas service operating between the Mediterranean and India/Pakistan. In 1987 the Contship Containerlines brand was established. It gradually took over management control of Contship's container shipping services, agency and intermodal activities. At the end of the second decade, Ocean Star was expanded to include an Australian/Far East leg and North European ports of call. With the acquisition of Costa Containerline they started a Med - US East/Gulf Coast Service.

In the 90s, the pace quickened even more with new vessels for the Eagle service, a revision of the Costa operation and start of the Salerno Terminal operations. 1991 was a year that saw pioneering changes to the Indian Sub-Continent service with CMB Transport joining Contship Eurasia Line through a joint service agreement. Joint service agreements have always played an important part in Contship's activities. In 1993 just such an agreement with P&O brought a restructuring of the Eagle service and an upgrade of Ocean Star with the addition of larger tonnage. Further tonnage upgrading was made to Contship's Eurasia service and the Gulf Line was reconfigured as Contship Levant Line in association with four partners in 1994. With terminal operations starting in Savona and Gioia Tauro in 1995 and with restructuring of the Eurasia/Medasia services and the establishing of a Med-US Gulf and Mexico service they made further service improvements.

In 1996 the Levant service was modified and the Mediterranean-US/Mexico service was upgraded. The company also took over the Pro Line, thereby bringing Contship Containerlines into the trade between North Europe and South America. A new era began in 1997 when Contship was acquired by CP Ships, being one of the few shipping lines CP took over at a profitable level. The Ocean Star service was retonnaged and Contship entered into partnership with the CMA-CGM Group and Marfret in 1998. 1999 was a year of consolidating existing operations and building a platform for further growth. They made significant cost efficiencies, improved their profitability and entered new and complementary trade lanes including the US West Coast to the Mediterranean. The same year Contship launched its information-driven Internet site and painted, as the first container shipping line, its web address www.contship.com on the hull of all its vessels as a mobile advertising.

2001 a new service between China and Europe was established in co-operation with CMA-CGM, however this trade had to be withdrawn from the market in early March 2003 due to lack of profitability caused by Import/Export imbalances, low freight rates and high fixed slot costs.

The Australasian trade lane was restructured and retonnaged, providing new 4100 TEU vessels with the capability to carry a high percentage of refrigerated containers in late 2002. In 2003 the headquarters moved from Ipswich to the new joint headquarters of CP Ships in Gatwick. A new Contship Logo was designed in 2004 when restructuring the brand/trade lane strategies, however it did never reach the public recognition as the old one did. In January 2006 the Contship Containerlines brand was replaced by the CP Ships brand following CP's one brand strategy promoted by the "One brand - One team" project, being the last CP Ships brand which was retired. In late 2005 CP Ships was bought up by TUI AG and merged in mid 2006 in the Hapag-Lloyd organization.

Contship Overland

Contship Overland was a division of Contship Containerlines operating at the forefront of Europe's intermodal industry. The company had offices in Felixstowe, Glasgow and Milan, and worked with partners in Spain and Greece, providing rail freight solutions to key markets and road freight options where required by customers. Its main business consisted of intermodal container and swapbody traffic between the UK and Italy, mostly by rail via the Channel Tunnel. After approximately ten years in business, Contship Overland was sold to the Rotterdam-based intermodal transport operator Geest North Sea Line with effect of 1 October 2001.

Contship Italia Group

When Contship Containerlines was acquired by CP Ships in 1997, the terminal operations in Italy stayed an independent company, not owned by CP. Today, this company acts under the name Contship Italia Group still using the old Contship logo. Further information can be found on their website.

Awards

International identifiers

SCAC Code: CCXL
Operator Code: CSA
BIC Codes (Container prefixes): CSQU, HAMU, PLVU, CLGU, TLEU, PSBU, PCRU, FANU (Fantainer)

Vessels

Notice that Contship often re-used vessel names, however these are different ships - see the IMO Number.