In 1872, Bornholdt opened a ship handling business (P. Bornholdt & Co.) in Riga, took care of chartering and within a decade grew considerably. Besides its headquarters in Riga it had branch offices in Libau, Reval, Saint Petersburg and Windau . In 1878 the company had agents in Libau and later in Riga and the other Russian ports on the Baltic Sea.
World War I almost destroyed the company, but Bornholdt rebuilt it after the war, and closed the branch in St. Petersburg. ==Personal life==