Press Release

Rhenus Catoni Logistics founded as a multi-modal logistics services provider in the Black Sea region

The Rhenus Group and the Catoni Group have established the joint venture called Rhenus Catoni Logistics A.S. The share capital for the new company is equally held by the two founding firms. The aim of the cooperation arrangement, which was launched on 1 July 2013, is to link the Danube region in an even better way with Turkey and its surrounding area in terms of logistics. The major focus of business will initially involve transporting bulk commodities and break bulk cargo. The Rhenus Group will contribute two of its own vessels to the joint venture.

The management board of the newly founded company includes Thomas Ullrich, Managing Director of Rhenus Maritime Services, and Patrick Schäffer, who is the managing director responsible for the Danube business activities at the Rhenus Group. Jonathan Beard, Chairman of the Catoni Group, and Serdar Ayirtman, CEO of the Catoni Transport Division, complete the management board of Rhenus Catoni Logistics, which consists of four people.

“Turkey and its neighbouring countries in the South Caucasus and Middle East area are increasingly moving closer to the European single market. The flows of goods associated with this, particularly involving raw materials and agricultural products, are increasingly finding their way to Western and Central Europe via the Black Sea and the river Danube,” Patrick Schäffer explains. “We will link the business areas with each other for our customers with our own shipping capacity that we will offer in the market place and high-quality multi-modal logistics chains. However, this is not intended to be a one-way process, but will also apply to transport services to the Black Sea region. The huge level of local expertise within the Catoni Group will help us, of course,” Thomas Ullrich adds.

“The process of pooling the resources of two efficient corporate groups through an organic partnership in the form of a joint venture in Turkey will provide the foundation for long-lasting, committed business relations between Rhenus and Catoni and they will help us establish multi-modal transport solutions in the Black Sea region. Rhenus’ strength in the Eurasian area paired with the rich local expertise that Catoni has acquired since it was founded more than 150 years ago will form the perfect combination in order to provide integrated logistics services for bulk and break bulk cargo,” Serdar Ayirtman explains.

 
Catoni’s roots go back to the year 1846 and Cyprus. Even at that time, the organisation of international flows of commodities was one of the company’s main tasks – and the provision of transport solutions was added at a later stage. The company’s headquarters are now located in Istanbul and ten other branches offer their services, which are underpinned by local expertise.

 

About Rhenus

The Rhenus Group provides logistics services around the globe and has annual turnover amounting to EUR 4 billion. Rhenus employs over 24,000 people at more than 350 locations worldwide. The Rhenus business areas – Contract Logistics, Freight Logistics and Port Logistics – manage complex supply chains and provide a wealth of innovative value-added services.
 

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