Lauritzen, NYK Reefers to start joint venture

Lauritzen, NYK Reefers to start joint venture    J. Lauritzen A/S and NYK Reefers Ltd. have today entered into a memorandum of understanding to create a 50/50 joint venture company.
   The agreement will see NYK Reefers’ present commercial operations (apart from technical ship ownership and ship management) absorbed into the joint company. In addition, all ships owned or time chartered by J. Lauritzen, NYK Reefers and independent ship owners, will be operated by the joint venture.
   Hiroshi Yamafuji, chief executive officer of NYK Reefers, will be the chairman of the new company while Mats Jansson, president of LaurizenCool AB, will be made president of the new company.
   “This new joint venture will consolidate the strategic cooperation which the two companies launched in January 2004, when they agreed on a tonnage sharing arrangement and on NYK Reefers’ subsequent acquisition of a 50 percent share of LauritzenCool Logistics AB,” the carriers said in a joint statement.