SWEDEN’S DSV Road, part of the Danish DSV Group, is to buy Norfolkline’s niche trailer traffic between Norway, Sweden and continental Europe.

Norfolkline’s annual trucking revenues on the routes acquired by DSV Road are around SKr100m ($12.5m). The deal takes effect from the beginning of next month. Norfolkline, a ro-ro subsidiary of AP Moller-Maersk, has been up for sale for the past two months. However, today’s small-scale transaction of a non-core business is not considered a precursor to a much larger deal by DSV because of competition issues relating to the European Commission. Only last week, DSV abandoned plans to take a majority joint ownership in North Sea and Baltic Sea ferry operator DFDS, after the European Commission opened an in-depth inquiry. AP Moller-Maersk said in May that dicussions were underway with potential bidders for Norfolkline, but added that “there is no certainty as to whether these discussions will result in a transaction taking place”. DFDS confirmed that it was one of the companies in discussions on a possible purchase of Norfolkline.
DSV Road managing director Henrik Holm said: “This acquisition follows the strategy of DSV Road to strengthen DSV’s market position in the segment of international trailer traffic.” DSV Road will take over the offices of Norfolkline in Helsingborg, including two employees, and the offices and five employees in Lübeck in Germany. The acquisition will increase DSV’s revenue on the routes by 6%.