The Thome Group and Carsten Rehder have agreed to cooperate in a joint venture, which would see a new company set up to take over the shipmanagement of Carsten Rehder’s owned and managed fleet of mainly dry bulk, container and multi-purpose vessels.

The new company is to be called Thome Shipmanagement Germany GmbH & Co. KG with the Thome Group and Carsten Rehder as the two shareholders. The shipmanagement staff at Carsten Rehder will be absorbed into this new joint venture.

Carsten Rehder will remain independent as ship owners and commercial managers and Thome Germany will also seek to win new ship management opportunities in Europe, separate from the business managed by Thome’s Croatian office.

Carsten Rehder and Thome Germany have also agreed to work together on projects of mutual interest.

Commenting on the joint venture, Thomas Rehder, Managing Director of Carsten Rehder, said: “Entering into this collaboration with the Thome Group makes sense as the German and International shipping markets have changed over the last 10 years. For German ship owners, third party shipmanagement services have become a more important part of the business. So, we decided that the time was right to integrate our shipmanagement into a larger third-party ship manager.

“The Thome Group was the obvious choice as it is a respected and internationally renowned professional operator with a strong presence in the tanker, bulk and offshore markets. Carsten Rehder’s focus on container and MPP business in addition to bulk, will complement this profile, especially for European markets. The cooperation with Thome will strengthen our activities,” he added.

Olav Nortun, Thome Group’s CEO, added: “I am delighted that the Thome Group and Carsten Rehder have agreed to collaborate in this way. This will be a mutually beneficial relationship for both companies and as Carsten Rehder is a partner in Thome Germany, it will use its ship management services for all its owned and third party operated vessels. We will also work together on some joint projects.”

Claes Eek Thorstensen (pictured), Thome President and CCO, concluded: “Having an office in Germany is part of Thome’s strategy to expand its presence in Europe from a centrally-based location, giving us the opportunity to present our full range of services to different market segments. Carsten Rehder is the perfect partner for Thome and I can assure its clients that we will manage their vessels conscientiously with a focus on safety, reliability and operational efficiency.”