Cersal srl
Cersal, a family business
During almost ninety years, various sectors of activity have been added, becoming part of the strategy, which today is focused, directly or through dedicated branches or investments in companies active in: coal, coke and chemical products; raw materials, industrial intermediates and semi-finished products; ceramic, porcelain, glass and steel products for the home, hotel items and coffee roasters; logistics; sporting articles; agency and distribution agreements; installations.
Our history
Founded in 1933 by Carlo Salmini and Lodovico Cerato (initially with the name of Cerato & Salmini), Cersal is now in its third generation.
The two founders, brothers-in-law, shared their previous experience in a family business (Gius. Di A. Vianello-Moro), active in Venice since the late 1800s in the import of coal and coke.
Over the years Cersal has held some important investments - alone or with partners - in companies operating in the production and / or sale of coke and coal, liquid fuels, electricity, logistics and port terminals.
Today its diversified investment portfolio includes companies active in logistics services and in the trading of products that are also at the heart of Cersal's traditional activities, with interesting synergies.
A lignite mine has been managed in Tuscany (“Miniera le Carpinete”) since before the Second World War; the management of this company ended in the early 1950s.
In the 1960-1970s he operated in the sale of liquid fuels (heavy fuel oil and diesel for industrial and domestic heating through "ALROC - Azienda Lagunare Rifornimenti Olii Combustibili", distributed by boats to private and public buildings in Venice), in the sale of gasoline through road service stations, under the "Gulf Oil" and "Esso" flags, through "Adriatica Carburanti & Lubrificanti".
In 1964 the founders of Cersal founded "SIAP SpA - Industrial Agglomerates and Petroleum Products", now belonging to the Cerato and Salmini plus Cersal families. Headquartered and main operations in Ancona, Italy, it is now mainly focused on re-fuels for steel production and port logistics services. Active in the distribution of natural gas through a minority shareholding in the Società Gas Rimini Group.
Since the beginning of the 1980s, mainly through the Trieste antenna, located close to the Slovenian border, fundamental links have been developed through a deep knowledge of the market, with companies located in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Macedonia, both in import and export. Particular attention was given to the "autonomous account / malo granicni" operations, available for companies based in the areas of Gorizia and Trieste and Koper - Nova Gorica - Umago. The counterpart transactions, being the preferred ones, led Cersal to expand the product portfolio.
From one of these counter-exchanges with the current Inkerpor, Cersal began to deal with porcelain. The marketing of ceramic, porcelain, glass and steel products for the home, hotel items and coffee roasters still plays an important role, operating mainly through Frivar, a dedicated subsidiary.
Among the most important activities and investments, Cersal was involved - as a partner - in the privatization made in 1994 by the ENI Group of the one and only Italian, as well as one of the few in Europe, a company producing "Italiana Coke" foundry coke, at the time it also owned two former coke production plants, Vado Ligure and Marghera. During Cersal's participation, Italiana Coke transformed these two sites into port terminals, mainly for the handling of bulk materials, through the companies “Terminal Rinfuse Italia Srl” and “Terminal Rinfuse Marghera Srl”.
In 1999, thanks to the experience and know-how in port terminal operations, Italiana Coke also acquired, from the privatization conducted by the Port Authority of Venice, the company "TMB - Terminal Molo B", the largest bulk terminal operator in the port of Venice, merged with the "Terminal Rinfuse Genova" in the "Terminal Rinfuse Italia".
Marco Salmini, president of Cersal, was involved in the activities described above as executive director, including a long period as president of Italiana Coke when the company's annual turnover was 120 million euros, and Terminal Rinfuse Italia was 50 million euros. EUR.
Both the shares of Italiana Coke and those of Terminal Rinfuse Italia were sold by Cersal years ago, maintaining a 35% stake in the company “Intermodale Marghera” (active in logistics in the former Vetrocoke headquarters). The plant is located in a strategic area of the port area of Venice, where important developments of logistic projects are underway.
Since 2005, Cersal has incubated a start-up project of the sports division which has since grown strongly to become the market leader in eyewear and protective equipment for action sports: passionate skiers, snowboarders and mountain bikers. Initiative started under the direction of the materials engineer Carlo Salmini (Jr), who joined the company as a third generation entrepreneur of the Salmini family, from the development and distribution of high-end body protection products with the Slytech ™ brand, which have enabled athletes to win Olympic gold medals since 2006. In 2006, the sports division also launched the Shred. ™ brand. The business has been managed since 2011 through a spin-off, Anomaly Action Sports, of which Cersal holds 18% through a holding company based in the United States, the rest of which is owned by the multi-gold medal winner Ted Ligety, 18 % and two US investors for the remainder. The products are distributed all over the world: www.shredoptics.com
While maintaining the activity in the sectors of application of raw materials, as described above, over the years particular skills have also been developed in the sector of semi-finished and finished products. The supply is guaranteed by privileging relationships with suppliers, also through agency and distribution agreements. For example, Cersal acts as an agent and / or distributor to promote sales, in defined markets or sectors, for the following companies:
- Plama-pur dd, Podgrad (Slovenia): polyurethane foam products;
- Vetriceramici Srl, Spezzano di Fiorano (Modena, Italy): production of raw materials under the "Ferro" brand for ceramic tiles and ceramic inks for digital printing;
- Syntomer, Courtaboeuf Cedex (France): additives for chemical industries;
- Inkerpor doo, Zaprešić (Croatia): porcelain tableware;
- Egyptian German Porcelain Co., Alexandria (Egypt): porcelain tableware.
Cersal intends to further develop the raw materials sector, supporting it with the sale of plants and machinery necessary for the technological evolution of foreign suppliers.
By way of example: the ceramic sector. The evolution that took place in the tile sector, in which Cersal has been operating for years, is now moving to the table porcelain sector. The adoption of digital printing systems, which will gradually replace the manual application of the decals used to create the decorations, requires the supply of essential components, such as digital printers that use specific ceramic inks.