Mercurius Shipping BV was founded by Robert F. Zimmerman in May 1983, for shipping brokerage. The first motor tank ship ‘Mercurius' was purchased and made operational. Robert Zimmerman then sold the ship in hire purchase to the captain, who thus became the economic owner of the ship. A successful formula, that was used for many more tank ships and is now known as MER-Franchising. Adbemar BV was founded to assist in and take care of the accounting for the entrepreneurs. At the end of the eighties, Mercurius Shipping started building inland shipping tankers. These ships were not only intended for trade purposes, but also to expand and renew the existing fleet. This meant that expertise was created within the Mercurius Group to assist in and supervise complete new construction and reconstruction projects.
In 1997, the combination of business operations was further expanded: the Adbemar Temporary Employment Agency stemmed from existing operations in managing crews for its own fleet. Also, completely new transport ideas were developed for the business. This meant that 2002 saw the launch of a revolutionary flour ship (the Mercurial-Latistar) as well as the first pallet inland navigation ship (the River Hopper): both adventurous operations.
Robert Zimmerman received the Entrepreneur Price 2000 from the Chamber of Commerce in Drechtstede in recognition of his dynamic entrepreneurship.
On 17 May 2008, at the celebration of Mercurius 25
th anniversary, Robert Zimmerman transferred the leadership to his son, Robert-Jan Zimmerman. As a conclusion of his years as managing director, Robert Zimmerman wrote the book ‘Entrepreneurial Spirit', in which he presents his vision on the enterprise, based on his own experience.
Robert-Jan inherited the passion for enterprise from his father. In 2005 the Mercurius Shipping Group took over the shipping office Lucassen from the Maersk Line in Amsterdam, and Mercurius also acquired the shipyard Begej in Serbia.
The vertical and horizontal integration of operations within the Mercurius Group offers huge advantages for synergy in the inland shipping business and for the inland shipping entrepreneur.
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