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BRUSSELS (Reuters): World No. 1 shipping company Maersk Line is set to win EU antitrust approval for its acquisition of Hamburg Sud after agreeing to pull the German company out from some trade routes, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Maersk, part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, announced the bid last December, part of a wave of mergers in an industry struggling with a glut of ships and slowing global trade which has forced at least one shipping line out of business.
The concessions, which Maersk submitted on March 20, were made to address the European Commission’s concerns about the competitive impact of the deal, the source said, without saying which routes were affected.
The EU competition enforcer, scheduled to rule on the deal by April 10, declined to comment. Maersk spokesman Michael Storgaard said the company expects a decision early next week.
Maersk said on Friday it would divest its Mercosul Line in Brazil to appease the Brazilian competition authority CADE.
The proposed acquisition will strengthen the Danish company’s presence in global trade, in particular in Latin America where Hamburg Sud has been long established.
World No. 7 Hamburg Sud is part of the Oetker Group and owns 130 container vessels, primarily used in trade between the northern and southern hemispheres, versus Maersk’s fleet of more than 600 ships.
Maersk, which aims to close the deal by year end, could see combined synergies in both liner and terminal operations of between $550 and $660 million if the acquisition goes through without too many concessions, analysts at Danske Bank say.
Hamburg Süd takes first place in the SeaIntel Global Liner Performance Report for the month of February 2017 in the category Schedule Reliability for the third time in succession.
The company had already reached this top spot in December 2016 as well as January 2017. On the average for 2016, Hamburg Süd achieved second place among 20 container lines rated.
“Hamburg Süd takes schedule reliability very serious. Our customers can rely on punctual delivery of their cargo. Within the value chain, this avoids, for instance, additional costs for expensive warehousing or production delays,” says Frank Smet, Member of the Executive Board of Hamburg Süd.
Punctuality plays an important role, particularly in the transportation of perishable goods. As one of the world’s leading reefer container carriers, Hamburg Süd, with its high schedule integrity, ensures that fruit, vegetables, or meat products reach their destination in their optimal state of ripeness and in the shortest time.
Hamburg Süd’s schedule reliability also ensures efficiency and sustainability throughout its network, as a relevant share of cargo requires pre- or on-carriage as well as transhipments to cover the intended door-to-door transportation chain. The higher the schedule integrity, the more efficient all components of the network and supply chain work together without the need for faster sailing speeds, excessive waiting times in transhipment ports, or missed connections. This also has positive effects on the CO2 footprint, as the services do not require speeding up, which generally results in disproportionate fuel consumption.
