The merger of two leading ship management companies has created one of the world's largest independent groups in Hong Kong.

The company has more than 130 vessels under full technical management and 5,000-plus crew.

Denholm Ship Management, a family firm from Scotland, has merged with the Hong Kong-based Anglo-Eastern Group, making the new company the fifth largest of its kind in the world.

The merger capitalises on the respective strengths of the two companies and the broad management and technical expertise that Hong Kong can offer. The trend towards recruiting crews from the Chinese mainland, increasingly common among ship-management companies, also makes Hong Kong a convenient base.

Anglo-Eastern is particularly strong in Asia, enjoying strong growth in the past few years since a management buy-out by Peter Cremers and colleagues Marcel Liedts and Richard Wong.

Denholm was formed more than 130 years ago by the great-grandfather of the current chairman. The company's power base is in Europe, where it has a broad ship-management portfolio, ranging from painting and cleaning services to crew management.