The shipping industry is estimated to change with the unification of the two international ship management companies based in Limassol.
Columbia Ship Management and Marlow Navigation have been at the forefront of maritime interest, making the fourth largest merger in global ship management over the past three years.
Both companies’ priority remains the continuous offer of services tailored to the needs of customers, aiming to make each and every customer unique.
The business plan of the two companies is to expand to other shipping services that will be developed from their center business activities. Simultaneously, they expect the unification to be a source of inspiration for other companies that wish to launch their own businesses in Cyprus, thus contributing to the establishment of the island as an international maritime center.
As Columbia Ship management President and CEO-to-be of Columbia Marlow Ship management and Maritime Services, Mark O'Neil, said the unification is yet another example of the need to integrate in order to achieve economies of scale that will remain competitive. Such economies of scale are expected to allow investment in crew training, basic digitization and technology, and new shipping services, while improving customer service.
"We are not focusing on increasing our market share, but only to increase our customer satisfaction with the services provided and the quality of these services," said Mark O'Neil.
It is worth noting that neither of the two companies has dismissed an employee since 2008, nor does it intend to make anyone redundant as a result of this merger.
Additionally, Columbia Marlow will not only become a management and shipping service provider, it will simultaneously expand its service platform to its customers, including procurement, green recycling, security control, yacht management and further development of cruise ship management.
In the context of the company's cooperation with Lufthansa, the digitization of the ship management sector, the benefits of which are expected to be transferred to existing and future customers, is at the core.
The company is also preparing cooperation with Lufthansa, in order to digitize the ship management sector further and benefit existing and potential customers
One of the advantages of the cooperation process appears to be a complete review of existing business processes.
