Oy Beweship Group

Oy Beweship Group Profile and History

Beweship is an independent Finnish freight forwarding and transportation company. It was founded in 1957 by Hilding Westerholm and Bengt Bäckström as Oy Bäckström & Westerholm Ab. The name was changed to Oy Beweship Ab in 1958. When Bengt Bäckström passed away in 1964, Hilding Westerholm bought the company for the sole ownership of Westerholm family. He was the CEO until 1977 after which he worked as Chairman of the board until his passing away in 1984. Beweship grew fast in 1970s and both Hilding Westerholm and his wife Christel were working at the company. Their son Bengt took interest in the business and started working for the family company already at the age of 10. As a messenger, he delivered documents to banks, shipping lines, customs and terminals in the city and harbour areas. In the 1990s, Beweship began its expansion to the east and Europe. In 1993, an office was opened in Tallinn, Estonia and in 1998 in Riga, Latvia. The expansion further continued in the 2000s when offices were opened in Gdynia and Warsaw, Poland in 2003, then Budapest, Hungary and Vilnius, Lithuania in 2005, in 2009, in Zabrze, Poland. Most recently, Beweship opened up an office in Moscow, Russia. The head office in Vantaa was completed in 2004, and boasts 5100 m² of warehouse/terminal space and 1500 m² of office space. In 2007, Beweship celebrated its 50th birthday. In 2010, Beweship's overall turnover was approx. 50 million euro and the company forwarded a total of 110 000 consignments per annum. Almost 50% of the turnover came from Western Europe's road transport. Other notable areas of business include Eastern Europe's road transport and sea and air freight. Over the years Beweship has become one of the leading freight forwarding companies in Finland and the Baltic States.