Due to the global economic downturn which has especially affected container traffics, Danish companies operating in the sector seem to have registered losses up to 60 billion crowns (about 8 billion euros). According to industry players, the financial difficulties will not dissolve in the near future mainly due to oversupply, lower demand and lower prices.

Therefore it is quite surprising to hear of a new company entering this market: the Containership Company (TCC), which was recently set up in Copenhagen and expects to start operations in 2010.

Founders are two Danes with a long history in container shipping, Jacob Tolstrup-Møller and Franck Kayser, who worked for such groups as AP Moeller-Maersk, CMA CGM and Boxton Maritime.

“There is a lot of idle tonnage at the moment and we will negotiate with owners of these container vessels to purchase or operate the vessels”, Jakob Tolstrup-Moller told the Danish newspaper Borsen.

TCC aims to launch a low price container ship business model, inspired by that of low cost airlines. "We think we can create earnings in the container ship market by making it simple. We are not going to compete with Maersk Line because they have a very developed concept, where our concept is simple and focused on transport from port to port", says Tolstrup-Møller.