1997
In 1997 NewCommodity Trading AG was founded as an independent legal entity to take over the activities of the coal department of its parent company PLAN MARINE which originally specialized in the field of port-handling equipment in the former territories of the USSR. At that time former Soviet coal producers were seeking opportunities to supply markets they were unable to reach owing to financial and technological limitations. The emphasis was on overcoming the logistical challenge of processing raw coal by cleaning and screening to deliver high-quality products – anthracites, coking coals, and PCI coal – and to transport the goods by rail, ship, and/or barges from the mine directly to customers’ storage facilities.