Family shipping firm returns to its roots in shipowning
Fratelli Cosulich celebrates 150 years in shipping this year


GENOA-based multi-faceted shipping group Fratelli Cosulich is celebrating 150 years in shipping during 2007.


The Euro600m turnover global group began as a shipowner in 1857 and today has diversified interests in shipowning, liner, tramp, yacht and cruise agency, ship management, bunkering, freight forwarding and NVOCC, travel agency, trading and IT. The group employs about 350 people in six offices in Italy and 10 offices abroad. There are subsidiary companies fully controlled by the group in Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, China, Turkey, UK, Ireland, Brazil and the USA.

After a long period of diversification in shipping-related businesses the group has recently returned to its roots in shipowning. Four 6,500 dwt product tankers have been ordered from the Chinese Sopo shipyard at Zhengjiang. The first two, the Maria Cosulich and the Teresa Cosulich, have been delivered, and the others are being completed and delivered in the course of 2007.

The group has remained family-owned throughout its global expansion and today is run by five members of the Cosulich family. Callisto Gerolimich Cosulich, president of the company, supervising the activities of the group, Antonio Cosulich, vice president, runs the group’s bunker activities, Andrea Cosulich is in charge of the ship-owning and ship-management activities. Augusto Cosulich is in charge of the agency departments, forwarding/NVOCC and trading and Matteo Cosulich is in charge of tourism, real estate and IT.

Antonio Cosulich, vice president of Fratelli Cosulich, says, “Throughout the past 150 years our family has seen many changes and weathered many challenges. But we have remained true to the core business of shipping, and we have retained the stability and customer focus which only a family-owned company can provide. We are a modern, efficient and global group, and growing, but we never forget what matters, which is our clients and our people. We really value our clients and our staff at a personal level and that is what has helped us to grow and diversify. We are all looking forward to the next 150 years.”

Looking forward, the group is experiencing fast growth in its global freight forwarding business, all of which is outside Italy. Offices in New York, UK (Heathrow and Felixstowe), Turkey (Istanbul and Izmir) and Shenzen will soon be joined by new offices in Dublin and Mumbai. The bunker business is also set for growth based on the new ships. Fratelli Cosulich plans are to become a fully fledged physical supplier in Singapore, having the capability of controlling the whole supply chain, from the cargo originating from the refineries, through the storage, blending and delivery of bunkers to the ships. And as a further diversification, the group will expand its European real estate portfolio this year.