Shoham Case Study

1. Business Context of Shoham (Cyprus) Ltd, Limassol:

1.1 Company’s profile and activities:

Shoham (Cyprus) Ltd is one of the main liner and shipping agents in Cyprus. It was established in Famagusta in 1951 and after the Turkish military occupation in 1974, it was relocated in Limassol.

It serves every commercial aspect of shipping and cargo handling in the import, export and transshipment trade of Cyprus, including the following1:

• Container terminal operations, stevedoring, customs clearing, freight forwarding, container haulage, container stuffing or unstuffing and warehousing.

• Port agents in Limassol and Larnaca for all types of vessels: container, general cargo, bulk carriers, tankers, offshore support vessels, anchor tug boat,

• Ship stores, bunkers, spares and provisions, crew changes and repatriations.

• Heavy cargo haulage and Project Cargo handling

• Global N.V.O.C.C. coverage, air freight, marine and air cargo consolidation

• Vessel Chartering, Marine insurance, cargo surveys and travel agents.

Shoham (Cyprus) Ltd has been since the very beginning the representative of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd in Cyprus. The shipping line agency accounts for the majority of its activities and revenues for the company.

Today ZIM operates a fleet of about 100 vessels of all types and sizes serving more than 265 ports around the globe with a network of 145 agents worldwide. There is a total carrying capacity of over 360,000 TEUs2.

ZIM’s containerized vessels connect Limassol with ports in the United Kingdom, North Europe, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the United States and Canada, Central America and South America, the Far East and Australia.

1.2 Company Objective and mission:

According to the general manager, the company continuously strives to achieve the following objective and mission:

The only way to achieve it is by better communication between the salesperson and the customer on an ongoing basis.

1.4 Market share and performance:

Being an island, Cyprus will always rely on international transport of goods mainly by sea. For this reason, containerized vessels constitute the primary means of transport from and to the port of Limassol. Among numerous service lines that the company operates between Cyprus and the rest of the world, there is one which distinguishes most in terms of volume as well as revenue. The service line between Eastern Mediterranean ports (including Limassol) and North European ports offers a direct service and Shoham is committed to maintaining this service to customers (see appendices – Figures 1, 2 and 3).

In the highly competitive market of shipping in Cyprus, Shoham plays a leading role in the export as well as import of containers. Below is an overview of the Market and ZIM’s position in 2014, separated into standard/normal and reefer containers (temperature