By Leo Ryan, AJOTMontreal-based CSL Group, the world’s biggest owner and operator of self-unloader vessels, has broadened its international ocean shipping activities by acquiring a marqee Norwegian firm’s self-unloader business and simultaneously establishing a European subsidiary. Through its major divisions, Canada Steamship Lines, CSL International, CSL Australia, CSL Asia (based in Singapore) and now CSL Europe, the CSL Group owns and operates a highly-diversified fleet of specialized self-unloading vessels, offshore transshippers and Handysize bulk carriers – delivering more than 70 million tons of cargo annually to industrial customers, CSL Group and  Kristian Jebsens Rederi AS (KJR) recently announced the acquisition by CSL of the assets and associated contracts of KJR’s  belted self-unloader business. Financial details of the transaction announced on March 23 were not disclosed. CSL intends to manage the belted self-unloader business through a new subsidiary, CSL Europe, which will be based in the United Kingdom and Bergen, Norway. “Jebsens is a famous name in world shipping and Atle Jebsen was a pioneer in building up a self-unloading business in Europe,” said Rod Jones, President and CEO of   CSL Group Inc. “CSL will bring its own brand of self-unloader operating prowess and customer service to this new venture, and we are confident that CSL Europe will become a reliable and flexible industrial shipping partner for European industry.” Bjorn Jebsen, Chairman of KJR, declared: “We have been very selective in who we choose to acquire this segment of our business and are confident that CSL Europe will become a reliable and flexible industrial shipping partner for European industry.” John Sheather, Vice-President of Beverley, MA-based CSL International, told AJOT that the purchase involved 10 Jebsens self-unloaders, mainly in the 9,000 to 10,000 tons range. “They will stay in service in Europe and not be integrated into our international pool with Oldendorff Carriers, Torvald Klaveness Group, Marbulk Shipping and Algoma Shipping.” The pool has two dozen ships ranging from Handymax to Panamax size vessels. Three key commercial employees from KJR, including Helge Sandvik, are joining CSL. Jeffrey Barnes of CSL International has been appointed the Managing Director and will relocate to the UK this summer. Created in 1845 to initially focus on the domestic trades on the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes, CSL has steadily widened its horizons. From the introduction of its first dry bulk self-unloader in 1924, CSL has been at the forefront of cargo-handling technology. Since the early 1980s, it has been exporting its expertise on world markets. It has been owned for several decades by the Martin family. Former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin transferred ownership in 2003 to his three sons. The CSL belt-conveyor self-unloaders offer complete transportation and bulk-handling systems. At speeds of up to 5,000 tons an hour, discharge is faster than conventional dry-bulk carriers. The vessels do not require shore-based discharge facilities and can function and operate and discharge cargo in any accessible waterway. Self-unloaders can operate 24 hours a day without the expense of stevedores or clean-up crews, thereby reducing port costs and demurrage. The self-unloaders operate with a mix of high-tech and simple gravity. The cargo falls through controlled hydraulic gates onto conveyor belts located beneath the holds. The belts carry the cargo toward the stern of a ship where it’s transferred to an elevating system and lifted toward the deck level. Once there, it is released onto the discharge boom, which is slewed to either port or starboard – up to 65 metres (200 feet) from the side of the ship. In North America in recent years, CSL has carried out spectacular ship-to-ship transfers of iron ore from self-unloaders onto overseas-bound large ocean bulk carriers in the middle of the vast Bay of Sept-Iles on the St. Lawrence River. These bulk carriers