Danish Shipping Giant DFDS Acquires FRS’s Spain-Morocco Ferry Operations

FRS Iberia/Maroc, the subsidiary of the international shipping company FRS created in 2000, is now under the control of a Danish shipping company, DFDS, which will now handle the maritime links between Spain and Morocco. "We are closely connected to our employees, friends and ships in Morocco and Spain. And we are happy to have found in DFDS a partner who will continue to manage the company in a proven manner. The 750 employees of FRS Iberia/Maroc will remain with DFDS," says Götz Becker, CEO of FRS Flensburg in a press release, without however specifying the amount of the transaction. This acquisition is subject to the approval of the competent Spanish and Moroccan competition authorities.

DFDS has taken over a thriving company. FRS Iberia/Maroc is one of the leaders in the ferry market between Spain and Morocco. "Despite strong competition, the activity of FRS Iberia/Maroc has had extraordinary success in two decades. With the economic boom in Morocco and the consolidation of the common market between the two countries, the annual transport volume of FRS Iberia/Maroc has increased," the FRS press release states, adding that in 2023, 1.9 million passengers and 370,000 vehicles are expected.

Based in Copenhagen, DFDS is a leading shipping company in Europe, created in 1866. It has built a unique ferry route infrastructure linking European countries to each other as well as to Turkey and offers a wide range of freight services from ferry transport to complex logistics solutions. The Danish company mainly transports freight units on these routes, in addition to the some 5 million passengers it normally transports.