Danish ship supplier Wrist Ship Supply acquires Belgian competitor Van Hulle in order to strengthen its position in Belgium and the Netherlands.
According to a press release from the supplier of provision and stores to ships and offshore installations, while Van Hulle will continue operating as a stand-alone business unit, this enhances their market presence and service offering and marks yet another important step in the steady development of Wrist’s global network.
With the acquisition of Van Hulle, Wrist Ship Supply now adds Belgium to its global footprint expanding its presence in the ARA market. Robert Kledal, CEO in Wrist, said: “We are looking forward to initiate a great cooperation with Van Hulle and we will for sure benefit both ways from each our experiences in the ship supply market.”
Van Hulle’s management team, with Bart van Hulle in the lead, will continue to run the operation out of Antwerp and Zeebrugge in Belgium, where the former family-owned business has large and modern warehouse and storage facilities, centrally located in the port areas.
Van Hulle is a solid and well-reputed business providing a high customer service to the local market. “With the inclusion in the Wrist Group, Van Hulle will benefit from Wrist’s global setup and scale advantages providing even better opportunities for our customers” says Bart van Hulle, CEO of Van Hulle.
For more than a decade it has been part of Wrist’s strategy to take a leading role in the global consolidation of a traditionally fragmented ship supply industry, typically composed of locally based and often family-owned businesses. Consequently, Wrist is continuously examining various opportunities for further growth, including acquisitions as well as start-ups.
More recent expansions of the Wrist Group’s activities include the acquisition of Klevenberg Shipping Center in 2018 and Garrets International in 2016. In 2017 Wrist added an office in Shanghai, to a large extent targeting new built vessels needing a broad spectrum of provisions and stores before delivery from shipyards to the ship owners.