(dpa) - A
German shipping group, DSR, has outlined plans for three Baltic Sea container
terminals including one in the Latvian capital Riga, and also said it aims to
take over German-Danish ferry company Scandlines.
DSR (Deutsche Seereederei) expected container shipping on the Baltic to surge
from 5 million units currently to 20 million annually in the future, the
group's main owner and chief executive, Horst Rahe, told the Saturday issue of
the newspaper Ostsee-Zeitung.
He said DSR, based in Rostock, Germany, was assessing whether to build
three terminals on the coast so it could establish its own port network over
the next seven to 10 years. DSR has established a port operations subsidiary.
DSR was formerly the state shipping line employing 14,500 people in communist East Germany. Rahe said it had done well during 15 years in private ownership. He and a
partner promised when they bought it in 1993 to keep 2,235 jobs and it now had
a group payroll of 8,000.
The group has invested in real estate and cruise shipping, but also aims to
return to regular cargo shipping.
Rahe said the group's acquisition last year of 20 per cent of Scandlines was
intended to lead to majority control of the line, which operates vehicle
ferries between Germany and Denmark.
He said DSR expansion plans had been delayed by the high market price of ships,
with a minimum of 20 ships needed for an economic shipping line.