COLI

TAKING THE STRAIN FOR EXCEPTIONAL CARGOES

Taking the strain for exceptional

German-based COLI Shipping and Transport is one of the world’s foremost shipping brokerages and contractors for project, breakbulk and heavy lift cargo, utilising only the best shipping partners in the business. Ensuring a client’s cargo is transited around the globe safely and securely is all in a day’s work, said Managing Director Alain Akavi, in conversation with Inside Marine’s Andy Probert.

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world gets smaller and cargoes become heavier and more outsized, rapid solutions are needed. Fortunately, COLI Shipping and Transport has been an ever-present ‘safe pair of hands’ in helping clients across industry keep their exceptional cargo moving in the right direction.

Established in 1974 with offices in Hamburg and Bremen, Germany, the company, then named Contimar Linienagentur, acted as a liner agency for a carrier handling breakbulk cargo to the Eastern Mediterranean.

With the oil crises of the early 1980s and growing globalisation, the streams of goods and the global economy changed drastically. The company realigned itself and shifted business focus from pure liner agency services to becoming an independent ship broker for worldwide breakbulk cargo.

Retaining the initials ‘CO’ and ‘LI’ of the former business, COLI has since advanced further, becoming a name that is synonymous with project, breakbulk and heavy-lift cargo solutions and innovation.

COLI now straddles the globe with numerous offices and sub sidiaries, providing essential links in the chain from client to specifically chosen shipping company for the most efficient cargo transportation.

Offer exceptional standards of service

“We maintain many decades of business relationships with all top-class carriers within the worldwide breakbulk cargo seg ment and also work closely with ship owners having only a few vessels,” said Managing Director Alain Akavi.

This allows COLI to select the appropriate carrier and vessel type for each cargo requirement. “Our business strength is offering added value and working with trusted and highly knowledgeable partners,” he added.

The tentacles of the business are many and varied, and have taken shape as the heavy lift and breakbulk cargo segments have matured.

Daughter company, CPC Consolidated Pool Carriers GmbH, was founded in 1987 to provide exclusive carrier services from Asia to Europe and vice versa to clients as an alternative to services avail able on the market. It now has offices in Tokyo, Japan, Houston, the USA, and Singapore.

Meanwhile, CPC COLI Project Cargo GmbH, Hamburg, is an ondemand-time charter service for breakbulk and project cargo for multi-purpose vessels between 10,000 - 15,000 DWT with lifting capacities of up to 500 tonnes. These offer monthly sailings from Europe to China, Korea and Japan via south east Asia and vice versa.

COLI Project, whose service portfolio includes project plan nin g /controlling, technical support, super cargo attendanc e /port captain services, agency and consultancy, is established through multiple offices in Japan, Turkey, Brazil and Korea.

Mr Akavi said Coli Bulk Carriers, the newest arm of the busi ness, was launched in 2018 as a dry bulk freight operator within the Handysize segment. This subsidiary operates with eight ves sels on long-term time-charter.

A year earlier, COLI Logistics GmbH was founded to focus on sea transportation and overall logistics of various industrial pro ject cargoes.

Saga Welco offers high-quality transportation solutions for forest products, breakbulk, bulk and project cargoes. With 49 sophisticated open-hatch gantry crane vessels, we maintain the highest standard in quality, cargo care and service for our customers around the world.

We wish to thank COLI for continuous support over the years, assisting us to become a well-known and reputable project carrier. Together we pushed technological boundaries and set the new standard for next generation wind energy equipment transportation for the future.

editorial mention

SAGA WELCO AS

The parent group includes CBC Consolidated Bulk Carriers GmbH, renamed in 2019 as GPC Global Project Carrier GmbH. This acts as a carrier specialising in the transportation of cargoes for the local steel and wind power industries on the intra-European trade.

Strengthening its hand even further, the company runs Asia Break Bulk (Singapore) Pte (ABB), which operates as a spe cialised project parcel service with modern geared multi-pur pose tonnage from Asia to Europe via the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Gulf, Suez Canal, the Black and Mediterranean Seas, and vice versa.

The variety of regularly shipped cargoes includes steel prod ucts, project cargo, wind power components, vehicles, yachts and heavier units.

“With our multi-level, multi-disciplinary strategy, we are more than just a broker,” asserted Mr Akavi. “We are a global logistics specialist.”

Instrumental in logistics chain

As the world has committed to reducing greenhouse emissions and investing in renewable energy, COLI is playing an instrumental role in the sea transportation of wind power components by dedicating itself to providing the most effective marine transport concepts for the industry and its clients.

Mr Akavi confirmed the wind energy segment offers enormous potential as projects begin to be established from America to China and everywhere in between.

“We are exceptionally skilled in offering a service to move wind power components and mills across the globe for both onshore and offshore projects,” he affirmed.

Equally, COLI specialises in heavy lifts and project cargoes and utilises the company’s technical capabilities to deliver individual implementation concepts for sophisticated trans portation projects.

Mr Akavi said: “Customer satisfaction is our mission. It begins with a thorough analysis of cargo requirements, stowage and lashing measures, and cargo operations supervision up to post fixture administration. We seek to meet the highest standards expected of our services.”

COLI

COLI also has exceptional expertise in the handling of steel and breakbulk cargoes. Through the Bremen office, the company work with commodities ranging from coils, plates and rebars to sheet piles, pipes and ingots. The business also has deep know-how in transportation solutions for “every thing that floats and rolls”, added Mr Akavi. This includes larger vehicles like road building and earth moving equipment, dump trucks, coaches, yachts, patrol boats, and catamarans.

He said COLI’s own engineering expertise is often utilised frequently to solve challenges associated with on and off-loading of heavy cargo. “We stepped in to offer a solution for a client who ships locomotives worldwide with the onboarding and offloading of their engines to great effect.”

A dedication to clients in offering a sterling service has seen the group enjoy an average 10% uplift in business activity year-on-year. The pandemic didn’t present many challenges for COLI that other companies may have faced, he added.

Mr Akavi said: “We have increasingly been used as a bridge between clients and shipowners, and we offer added value across that global logistics chain by acting as a partner and working hand in hand with both.

He concluded: “Pre-planning for an exceptional cargo can take months, so the ability to think ahead, anticipate challenges and changing demands, be flexible, and offer guidance when needed has served COLI Shipping and its subsidiaries well, and will do so in the future.” n