Who owns ESL Shipping?
ESL Shipping is owned by Aspo (Finland, Nasdaq Helsinki: ASPO).[1]
Aspo owns 78.57% of ESL Shipping rather than all of it.
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Aspo Annual Report 2025 (ESEF package), Aspo Oyj. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Aspo Oyj (78.57% stake) reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- Origin
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- Category
- Travel & transport › Container & bulk shipping
- Parent ticker
- Nasdaq Helsinki: ASPO
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About ESL Shipping
ESL Shipping calls itself the leading dry bulk sea transportation company operating in the Baltic Sea area, mainly under long-term customer contracts, according to Aspo's 2025 annual report. Aspo holds 78.57 percent of ESL Shipping Ltd; the rest is held by OP Finland Infrastructure and Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company.
Ownership timeline of ESL Shipping
Where ESL Shipping sits in Aspo
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
- ESL Shipping (78.57%)
Open the full Aspo ownership tree →
Other brands in container & bulk shipping, and who owns them
The 78 brands in container & bulk shipping on Brandtree belong to 76 owners. The largest is Bahri, with 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Bahri Dry Bulk | Bahri | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia |
| Klaveness Combination Carriers | Klaveness | 🇳🇴 Norway |
| Navig8 | ADNOC L&S | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates |
| Ardmore Shipping | Ardmore Shipping | 🇧🇲 Bermuda |
| Awilco LNG | Awilco LNG | 🇳🇴 Norway |
| BW LPG | BW LPG | 🇸🇬 Singapore |
| C3is | C3is | 🇬🇷 Greece |
| Cadeler | Cadeler | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
About the owner: Aspo
Aspo is a publicly listed company headquartered in Finland. Brandtree records 1 brand under its control, and it is listed as Nasdaq Helsinki: ASPO.
Aspo Oyj (Aspo Plc) is the Finnish group whose 2025 annual report names ESL Shipping and Telko as its reportable segments; it signed an agreement on 15 August 2025 to sell Leipurin to Lantmännen, completed in early March 2026. The Nasdaq Nordic share list shows it on the Helsinki main market as ASPO (ISIN FI0009008072). Its parent-company subsidiary table gives 78.57 percent of ESL Shipping Ltd, after OP Finland Infrastructure and Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company took a 21.43 percent minority stake in February 2024, and 100 percent of Telko Ltd.
🇫🇮 ESL Shipping and other Finnish brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 63 brands that began in Finland. 21 of them (33%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; ESL Shipping is not one of them.
- Finnair — Finnair 🇫🇮
- Nurminen Logistics — Nurminen Logistics 🇫🇮
- Viking Line — Viking Line 🇫🇮
- Arabia — Fiskars Group 🇫🇮
- Atria — Atria 🇫🇮
- Benecol — Raisio 🇫🇮
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of ESL Shipping?
The parent company of ESL Shipping is Aspo, a publicly listed company headquartered in Finland.
Is ESL Shipping Finnish?
Yes. ESL Shipping originated in Finland and its owner, Aspo, is also headquartered in Finland.
Is ESL Shipping still owned by Aspo?
Yes. As of 5 October 2026, ESL Shipping is still owned by Aspo (78.57% stake). The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Aspo Annual Report 2025 (ESEF package) — Aspo Oyj, Annual report; retrieved 5 October 2026.
Report a correction Opens a pre-filled GitHub issue. See our corrections policy.