Damco was born from the merger of Dutch freight forwarding company Damco Sea & Air and the forwarding activities of Denmark-based DSL Star Express.
Our starting point was in 2005, when the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group acquired Damco Sea & Air in connection with the acquisition of P&O Nedlloyd. Established in 1988, Damco Sea & Air was P&O Nedlloyd’s forwarding arm.
Together with Maersk Logistics’ air freight and landside services, DSL Star Express was renamed ‘Damco’ on 1 July 2007.
Both companies have a successful track record of offering our customers ocean freight, air freight, and landside services including trucking, customs clearance, document management, and cargo insurance.
With some 3,600 colleagues spread across 110 countries world-wide, the new Damco will continue to provide freight forwarding services to our existing and new customers. Our expanded global network is based around local branch offices with local staff who are closely in touch with conditions in each of their markets.
The history of Damco Sea & Air
Damco Sea & Air goes back to 1905 when the family van Dam registered the company C.W. H. van Dam & Co. as barge operators on the river Rhine.
In the time between the two world wars, the company specialised in middle to upper Rhine shipping, and after World War II, the company combined this with shipping operations in the lower Rhine between Duisburg and Cologne.
By 1988, under the name of Damco Maritime, the company had expanded into land-side trucking and other forwarding services, and in 1997, Damco Maritime became part of the merged international sea freight interests of P&O Nedlloyd.
Since then, Damco Maritime redefined its product offering, placing greater emphasis on the development of airfreight, and in 2000, the company changed its name to Damco Sea & Air to reflect this initiative.
Following the take-over by A.P. Moller - Maersk of P&O Nedlloyd in August 2005, Damco now forms part of the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group’s logistics and forwarding activities.
The history of DSL Star Express and Maersk Logistics
Maersk Logistics go back to 1977 when the use of containers in the liner services increased dramatically. This paved way for specialised loading (consolidation) of containers with the aim to better utilise the container space, and consequently, shippers and other transportation customers required improved information and documentation, local transportation, customs clearance, ocean and air freight services, as well as co-ordination between our customers, vendors, and shipping lines.
In 2001, Maersk Logistics acquired certain activities and assets of US logistics company Distribution Services Limited (DSL), and in 2004 the new DSL Star Express brand was launched and from that moment on all ocean activities of Maersk Logistics were executed under that new brand name.
In 2007, following the 2005 take over by A.P. Moller - Maersk of P&O Nedlloyd, Maersk Logistics merged Damco Sea & Air with its ocean activities sold under the brand DSL Star Express as well as its air freight and landside service activities under the name of Damco.
