ABSTRACT
Grupo Transoceanica is Ecuador's main logistics company, providing services in the main commercial hubs, seaports, and airports. Guayaquil, the largest city in the country and its main sea port, was the headquarters of Grupo Transoceanica. Wilfried Meinlschmidt came to Ecuador in 1976 from Bremen, Germany. In 1981 he took over the leadership of Transoceanica in Guayaquil, which was founded in 1953 as an independent and fully Ecuadorian company. Grupo Transoceanica comprises more than ten related companies within the logistics sector in addition to the main firm Transoceancia C. Ltda, such as Tercon—Terminales de Contenedors Cia Ltda, a company that operates container terminals; Transpoint S.A. a company running a fleet of trucks to transport containers within Ecuador to their final destinations. The shareholder structure of Grupo Transoceanica is unusual as the main companies are owned by five family groups. The majority of these families have German heritage.
