History

The shipping company we now know as WEC Lines was born in Spain, as the result of SBC Container Lines creating a new container freight service for Middlesbrough, Rotterdam and Pasajes.

Several other destinations, including Portugal, were added to the shipping schedules, expanding services throughout Europe.

The SBC Container Lines department in Portugal was renamed to the now familiar name: WEC Lines.

The management of the companies in London and Madrid was reassigned to Rotterdam. In the same year, WEC Lines started their deep sea activities, extending the network to the Red Sea.

From this year on, several new destinations were added, including Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, thus expanding WEC Lines’ activities to East Africa.

Holland Maas Shipping, a sister company to WEC Lines, was established, with the purpose of taking care of short sea activities all the way south to Casablanca.

Management in Rotterdam takes over all shares and buys out the other owners. From that point onwards, WEC Lines is officially based in Rotterdam.

In the late 90s, WEC Lines was confronted with the decision of major industrial companies to do business with Global Carriers only. This paved the way for new partnerships, allowing WEC Lines to work together more closely with larger shipping companies.

From 2000 onwards, WEC Lines keeps on growing with the establishment of WEC Spain, WEC Maroc, WEC Egypt and WEC Ibero, Lisbon and Leixões.

Establishment WEC Lines Kenya Ltd. in Mombasa, Nairobi and Kampala.

WEC Lines España SLU is established.

WEC Lines becomes AEO certified, proving to be a trustworthy partner to customs worldwide.

Start of the Figuera de Foz service.

Establishment of WEC UK Ltd. in Felixstowe.

WEC Lines celebrates its 50th anniversary and becomes EcoVadis awarded. In addition, the company starts the brand new Euro Maroc service which include Casablanca, MA and Montoir, FR.

W.E.C. Lines rebrands to WEC Lines and drops the dots and vessel logomark. The company enters the refrigerated container market by adding 45ft reefer containers to its container fleet and is granted the ISO 9001:2015 certification. In addition, WEC Lines starts a new direct weekly service to Dublin and Liverpool and opens a new office in Nantes, France.

WEC Lines targets net-zero emissions in 2050, as the result of a long-term focus on sustainability.