Norwegians Take over Estonian Shipping Company

An international shipping concern, the Tschudi and Eitzen Group, acquired majority ownership in Eesti Merelaevandus (ESCO), the largest privately-owned shipping company in Estonia and the Baltic states, on June 7. The Tschudi and Eitzen Group purchased ESCO shares through the U.S. company Stanton Capital from Baltic Sea SA, which owned 80 percent of ESCO before the deal. The Tschudi and Eitzen Group, privately owned by Norwegian businessmen Axel C. Eitzen and Felix H. Tschudi, controlled 12 percent of Baltic Sea SA before the purchase. According to ESCO's managing director, Tom Stage Petersen, the company is planning to establish a foothold in St. Petersburg within the next six to eight months and is looking for new possible alliances with other industrial partners in the Baltic states.ESCO is a leading Ro-Ro and container operator in the Baltic region and Estonia's largest ship owner with a fleet of 27 vessels, more than half of which were built in the 1990s. The company employs more than 800 people. The company was established by the state in 1991 and wholly privatized in 1999 by American, Norwegian and Estonian investors. Since the start of its privatization process back in 1997, the company has sold half of its fleet and reduced its personnel by 50 percent.