Contship signs agreement to acquire the Tarros Group

Contship, a logistics and intermodal transport group (controlled by the German company Eurokai, owned by the Eckelmann family) which holds, amongst other things, a majority stake in the Lsct container terminal in La Spezia, has signed an agreement to acquire, through its subsidiary Sogemar, the Tarros Group, an operator specialising in maritime transport and integrated logistics in the Mediterranean, which in turn manages the Golfo terminal at the port of La Spezia.

According to Contship, the aim of the agreement is to ‘develop a new integrated logistics platform in the Euro-Mediterranean region and create new opportunities along the logistics corridors between Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa’. The Tarros Group, founded in 1828 and based in La Spezia, with 751 employees and 2,700 customers, connects Europe with 16 countries and 31 ports. The agreement covers the acquisition of the Tarros Group in its entirety, including its foreign subsidiaries: Terminali del Golfo, Car Box, Compagnia Marittima Servizi and Med Logistics Malta, which operate in maritime transport, port handling and land transport.

“The agreement,” comments Matthieu Gasselin, CEO of Contship, “forms part of our development strategy, which aims to strengthen our role as an integrated logistics operator. We are convinced that the synergy between Tarros’s services, Sogemar’s intermodal network and the group’s terminals in Italia, Egypt and Morocco will enable us to expand our offering and strengthen our presence along the North-South and South-North corridors between Europe and Africa.”

Alberto Musso, Chairman and CEO of Tarross, for his part, emphasises that ‘to sustain a company’s strategic growth in the long term, it is necessary to find partners who share the same vision of the future. For a long time, I have been looking for a solid ally, one that shares our vision for growth and our ambitions, and which would enable the Tarross Group to develop further in a complex and challenging environment such as today’s. The agreement with Contship aims to create a Euro-Mediterranean platform, bringing together two major operators with complementary characteristics: a strong European identity, on the one hand, and a long-standing presence in the Mediterranean, on the other’. The completion of the acquisition is subject, amongst other things, to the necessary approvals from the relevant authorities. The transaction is expected to be finalised in the fourth quarter of 2026.