The Finsea Group, through its shipping agency Intersea, has acquired the representation in Italy of GS Lines, a Portuguese shipping company belonging to Grupo Sousa. The mandate covers commercial and operational management at Italian Tyrrhenian ports and is intended to strengthen Finsea’s presence in the international shipping agency market, with positioning focused on Mediterranean trades and links with Atlantic and African routes.
GS Lines specialises in container transport between Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira, and Spain, including the Canary Islands and Algeciras, as well as regular services to Cape Verde, calling at Praia, Mindelo, Sal and Boavista, and to Guinea-Bissau. The company also operates domestic cabotage between mainland Portugal and the Atlantic archipelagos, international lines to West Africa and global cross-trade services. For Finsea, this operational scope translates into the ability to intercept flows not limited to the Mediterranean basin alone and to offer Italian freight forwarders a structured gateway on routes where direct connectivity is a competitive factor.
Grupo Sousa, headquartered in Funchal, Madeira, has been active for more than 35 years in the maritime, port, logistics, energy and tourism sectors. It is the only Portuguese shipowner included in the Alphaliner ranking of the world’s Top 100 Shipowners. The group operates eight container and multipurpose vessels, alongside ro-ro passenger units employed on island connections. Overall capacity exceeds 7,000 containers and annual traffic is above 160,000 TEU. Intersea becomes the single point of contact for Italy for agency activities, ranging from commercial promotion to oversight of operational requirements in ports, in line with the Finsea Group’s model based on the integration of services along the logistics chain.
Aldo Negri, CEO of Finsea, links the agreement with GS Lines to a path of growth and diversification of the offer addressed to freight forwarders, and to the desire to consolidate the Shipping Agency Business Unit as a point of reference for international shipowners interested in developing trades in the Mediterranean and connections with major maritime routes. The transaction is not limited to expanding a portfolio of mandates, but fits into a strategy aimed at strengthening the group’s ability to attract lines and services with operational impacts across multiple ports and cargo segments.
In the competitive context of shipping agencies, representing an operator with Atlantic and African routes broadens the group’s geographical reach and complements a positioning already oriented towards liner services and spot activities. The decision to concentrate management on Tyrrhenian ports also reflects attention to those ports which, due to their proximity to key national logistics corridors and their links with manufacturing in Northern and Central Italy, can generate stable demand for agency services, ship management and coordination of landside flows.
The year 2025 appears as one in which Finsea has combined the expansion of agency mandates with external growth initiatives and organisational consolidation. The Genoa-based holding, active for more than forty years in the maritime, port and logistics sectors, operates with over 250 employees across more than 50 controlled and affiliated companies. Ownership is linked to the Genoese Negri and Clavarino families, with Luigi Negri as chairman and founder, Aldo Negri leading operations and Raffaele Negri responsible for finance and sustainability.
The reorganisation launched in 2024 has redefined the Finsea Group into five divisions. Shipping Agency includes Intersea, Medmar Tramp and Multimarine Services and focuses on logistical and administrative support to shipowners and commercial representation, with attention to liner trades and spot operations. Land Transport, coordinated by Filippo Gallo, integrates road and rail activities through Mto, Silt and the new Finsea Steel. Global Logistics coordinates sea, air and land forwarding and customs clearance, including from 2025 Giuseppe Pierucci, specialised in yachting logistics. Shipping Yards includes the stake in Genova Industrie Navali, with refitting, repair and shipbuilding activities across several Mediterranean ports. Finally, Shipping Lines covers passenger transport through BluNavy and Ichnusa Lines.
On the acquisitions front, the most significant transaction in 2025 is the creation of Finsea Steel following the acquisition of ArcelorMittal’s business unit relating to the Italian logistics of finished steel products. The agreement was completed on 1 January 2025 and saw Finsea Steel begin operations with ten employees and offices in Milan and Piombino. The company acts as general agent in Italy for all vessels chartered by ArcelorMittal calling at various Italian ports, including La Spezia, Marina di Carrara, Catania, Ortona, Piombino, Ravenna, Salerno, Savona, Cagliari and Gaeta, coordinating port operations, inland transport and related international forwarding. In specialised logistics, in January 2025 Finsea increased its stake in the Livorno-based forwarding company Giuseppe Pierucci from 30% to 60%, through a transaction formalised on 30 January.
