Page 38 - Port of Baltimore Magazine Jan/Feb 2013

[36] The Port of Baltimore ■ January/February 2013 To subscribe or renew, visit www.marylandports.com
PORT SHIPPING
BY NANCY MENEFEE JACKSON
W ith almost 140 years of
history, CSAV Group
is one of the oldest
shipping companies
in the world.
Based in Chile, the shipping company
has a consolidated commercial network of
105 agencies distributed throughout the
world, with regional offices in Europe, Asia,
the Indian Subcontinent, the East Coast
of South America, North America and the
COMPANY PROFILE:
CSAV Group
Caribbean, and the West Coast of South
America. With its subsidiaries Libra and
CSAV Norasia, CSAV Group is present in
the most important world markets, with a
strong leadership in the routes to and from
both coasts of South America as well as a
prominent presence in the traffics of the
main emerging markets, providing services
for general cargo; bulk, refrigerated and
frozen cargo; and vehicles.
According to company officials, CSAV
Group — conscious of its customers’
needs — has, in recent years, significantly
improved the integration of its commercial
and operational processes, establishing a
strong technological platform that enables
the company to provide efficient service in
line with its expectations.
FLEET: CSAV’s fleet has a capacity close
to 277,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent
Units). The company’s focus in the last few
years has been on owning its own ships.
At the beginning of 2011, it owned just nine
percent of its ships. As of July 2012, when
it took delivery of a new containership,
Tirúa, it owned almost 40 percent of its
fleet. The Tirúa is the last of a series of
seven vessels, all named for Chilean
rivers, ordered from the Samsung Heavy
Industries shipyard as part of CSAV’s ship