Maersk Line to acquire Hamburg Süd

Hamburg Süd is the world’s seventh-largest container shipping line and a leader in North-South shipping routes, Maersk noted. It operates 130 container vessels with a capacity of 625,000 TEU, has 5,960 employees in more than 250 offices across the world and markets its services through the Hamburg Süd, CCNI (based in Chile) and Aliança (based in Brazil) brands. In 2015, Hamburg Süd had a turnover of USD 6.73 billion, of which USD 6.26 billion stemmed from its container line activities, Maersk said.
“Hamburg Süd complements Maersk Line and together we can offer our customers the best of two worlds, first of all in the North-South trades,” remarked Søren Skou, CEO of Maersk Line and the Maersk Group.
“Giving up our engagement in shipping after an 80-year-long ownership in Hamburg Süd wasn’t an easy decision for my family. We're very confident, though, to have chosen the best of all possible partners. Maersk will preserve and grow Hamburg Süd," commented Dr August Oetker, chairman of the advisory board of the management holding company of the Oetker Group.
Maersk Line had announced in September that it would grow market share organically and through acquisitions.
“The acquisition of Hamburg Süd is in line with our growth strategy and will increase the volumes of both Maersk Line and APM Terminals,” Skou said. APM Terminals, owned by the Maersk Group, is based in The Hague.
In the combined network, Hamburg Süd and Maersk Line’s customers will have access to the dedicated end-to-end services provided by Hamburg Süd in the North-South trades as well as the flexibility and reach provided by Maersk Line’s global network, according to Maersk. It added that the combined network would enable Maersk Line to develop new products with more direct port calls and shorter transit times.
With the acquisition, Maersk Line said its container capacity would increase to about 3.8 million TEU from 3.1 million TEU, and its global capacity share to 18.6% from 15.7%. The combined fleet will consist of 741 container vessels with an average age of 8.7 years, down from the current 9.2 years.
Maersk Line said it expected the regulatory process to be completed at the end of 2017, until which Hamburg Süd and Maersk Line would continue business as usual.