EUROPE: Freightliner Group announced that it is to acquire ERS Railways from Maersk Line on June 19. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the transaction is subject to regulatory approval. A long-term contract has been agreed for ERS to continue to provide services for the shipping line.
Rotterdam-headquartered ERS was founded in 1994 and became licensed as a railway undertaking in 2002. It provides intermodal services to the hinterlands of major ports including Rotterdam, Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Lübeck and Rostock, as well as services to destinations in Italy, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic. ERS holds a 47% stake in German port hinterland operator boxXpress.de.
'The acquisition of ERS is a very good fit with our growth strategy and further extends our profitable footprint, following our successful entry into the Polish and German bulk haul markets over the last seven years and our entry into Australia in 2009', said Peter Maybury, Chief Executive of Freightliner Group. 'The business has a strong management team who share our service-led approach, and we look forward to supporting them as ERS continues to grow its continental European intermodal services.'
