• Wilhelmsen Ship Management acquires 50% stake in Ahrenkiel Steamship, a MPC Capital subsidiary
• Access to Wilhelmsen’s global network improves service scope and quality for ships under management
• Joint Venture leverages on a broad range of activities of the Wilhelmsen and MPC Capital organizations

Wilhelmsen Ship Management, a provider of third party ship management services headquartered in Singapore and the Hamburg-based asset and investment manager MPC Capital AG have agreed to combine their activities in the technical management of container ships. To this end, Wilhelmsen Ship Management acquires a 50 % stake in Ahrenkiel Steamship GmbH & Co KG, the technical container ship manager within the MPC Capital Group.

In the future, the joint venture will operate under the brand “Wilhelmsen Ahrenkiel Ship Management”. The company will continue to operate in Hamburg and Rhoon, while supported by Wilhelmsen’s global network. With around 100 employees, the new company will manage a fleet of currently 72 container ships with a focus on feeder container ships with a capacity of 1000 to 3 000 standard containers (TEU).

The managing director of the joint venture will be Dr. Michael Silies who has been heading up Ahrenkiel Steamship since 2015. He is supported by Jan-Eric Panitzki, who will continue to oversee the operational part of the business.

“We are very happy to strengthen our presence in Germany together with a strong partner like MPC Capital. We believe Ahrenkiel Steamship is a good fit as we share many common values; focusing on quality, heritage and at the same time have ambitious goals to utilize digital technology to enhance and improve the operations. We are looking forward to develop a strong track record together in the container segment through this partnership,” says Carl Schou, CEO and President of Wilhelmsen Ship Management.

Christian Rychly, Managing Director of MPC Capital, says: “We are very pleased to have Wilhelmsen at our side as a strong partner with whom we can consistently expand our shipping activities. We want to offer the best services to our clients and Wilhelmsen’s network and expertise in other shipping segments will improve our position in the container segment.”

The closing of the transaction is still subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities.