Photo credit: Norden

The Danish-based Norden has sealed a deal to acquire the Thorco Projects business, providing access to new customers within the general cargo segment such as break bulk, steels and wind energy. No price has been revealed for the acquisition.

The listed dry cargo and product tanker firm wants to further grow its customer offering, as Thorco Projects operate within specialist general cargo segments such as break bulk, steel and wind energy related cargoes, where multiple cargo parcels from different customers typically are combined into single shipments on Multipurpose and Handysize ships.

Thorco Projects is a Danish headquartered shipping company established in 2003 as part of Thornico Group and operates a chartered fleet of 30-40 vessels.

It is a specialist parcel operator in the general cargo segment within Handysize and Multipurpose vessels and since early 2021, the company has shifted focus towards an asset light business model, thereby solely operating chartered vessels.

Thorco Projects has in recent years transformed into an asset light business operating a chartered fleet of predominantly Handysize vessels, where Norden is a significant operator.

“We look forward to welcoming the Thorco Projects team into Norden and offer customers an enhanced global service across all non-containerised cargo types,” says Norden CEO Jan Rindbo. “With the tonnage and business tools we have available in Norden, we see significant potential to further grow the Thorco Projects business under the Norden brand,” he adds.

From his side Thomas Mikkelsen, CEO Thorco Projects says “We look forward to developing our cooperation with our customers, both current and future. We also welcome this opportunity to grow our collaboration with Norden, who we believe can further strengthen and grow the projects business.”

In a release, Norden said it saw numerous commercial synergies between the two businesses, including an overlap in Thorco Projects’ fronthaul routes and Norden’s backhaul routes, creating the opportunity for trading route optimisation.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory clearance and the closing is expected to occur in third quarter of 2023.