September 2 - The GAC Group has strengthened its Baltic Sea region coverage with the acquisition of leading Finnish ship agent John Nurminen Navis (JNN). The company has been rebranded as GAC-Nurminen Navis.

JNN is the leading ship agency in Finland and handles annually up to 3,000 ship calls at all major Finnish commercial seaports, directly through its Helsinki head office as well as local offices in Porvoo, Kotka, Turku, Naantali and Rauma and the company's network of sub-agencies.

Headquartered in Dubai, GAC is a significant operator of heavylift and project cargo services with a wide variety of sectors serviced including oil and gas, pulp and paper, automotive, construction, power and energy and aid shipments.

The addition of Finland to the GAC network boosts the Group's growing presence in the region since its majority stake acquisition of Ole R Olsen in Norway in 2007, followed by an alliance formed with Pole Position in Spitsbergen last year and the opening of new offices in Bergen and Sandnessjoen during 2010.

That strong presence in the region enables GAC to meet a growing range of client needs, particularly those in the oil and gas sector where the search for new sources is continuing to progress further north.