On 28 October 2026, Boluda Shipping, the shipping and logistics division of Spain's Boluda Corporación Marítima, signed an agreement to acquire Samskip with all its assets and operations. The companies did not disclose the value of the transaction. The aim is to merge the two networks into a single short sea shipping system linking northern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands and West Africa. Completion is expected on 1 January 2027, subject to approval by the competent authorities and other agreed conditions. Until then the two companies will continue to operate independently.
Once the deal is complete, the network will comprise 32 vessels deployed on 18 routes, with connections to 28 countries. On land it will have 21 maritime terminals, five rail terminals and more than 500 owned commercial vehicles, along with 35,000 containers and an annual logistics volume of more than 750,000 TEU. The system will combine sea, rail and road, with the terminals acting as coordination points for cargo flows. Boluda Shipping plans to invest in the network to increase capacity and add more connections.
The group passing to Boluda has already changed in scope during 2026. On 17 February Samskip signed an agreement with Cldn to sell its port-to-port and door-to-door services between continental Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland. These were the container lines between Rotterdam and the ports of Belfast, Blyth, Grangemouth, Hull, Tilbury, Cork, Dublin and Waterford, with more than 1,000 calls a year. The Irish competition authority cleared the transaction on 9 June. On 19 June Cldn announced that all conditions had been met, and from 29 June it took over the services, together with the leases for more than 5,000 multimodal loading units. Samskip said it had sold them in order to concentrate on its long-distance multimodal network linking continental Europe, the Nordic countries, the Baltic and North Africa. It continues to serve the UK and Ireland through its own multimodal and forwarding network.
Boluda brings to the integration its container fleet, port logistics and towage expertise, while Samskip contributes its presence in northern Europe, its multimodal skills and its commercial relationships. "We have a clear vision: to lead European short sea shipping and make our network a competitive advantage for the companies that rely on us," said Ignacio Boluda Ceballos, executive chairman of Boluda Shipping. The two companies already run joint services in Spain: in 2023 they launched a Santander-Dublin-Liverpool link based at the Boluda terminal in Santander, with block trains to and from Madrid and Seville. Ólafur Orri Ólafsson, who has been Samskip's chief executive since December 2025, will remain in post and oversee the integration. The Samskip brand and its Icelandic origins will remain part of the combined group.
