Shanghai Express, image: Hapag Lloyd
HAMBURG, June 20 (Reuters) – Half of Germany’s maritime shipping companies plan to enter alliances with peers or deepen existing pacts in the next few months to counter overcapacity and falling freight rates, consultancy PWC said on Thursday.
“We expect more so-called platform solutions to emerge,” said Claus Brandt PWC partner and shipping specialist, referring to jointly-owned entities that buy and operate vessels.
“The market situation forces more and more shippers to consider new ways of doing business. That leads to cooperation.”
A survey by PWC of 100 German shipping groups showed that more the 40 percent of them were already closely cooperating with peers.
Global shippers are also in a push to team up to ease competitive pressures. The industry’s top three, including Maersk Line, on Tuesday agreed to share vessels in a bid to minimize losses caused by over capacity and falling freight rates.
Maersk Line, a unit of Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk agreed an operating alliance with its two biggest rivals, Switzerland-based MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. and France’s CMA CGM.
PWC’s Brandt joined other industry experts in saying the Maersk alliance would likely face difficulties in getting antitrust clearance. An agreement on freight rates between the three sector heavy weights was bound to be blocked by antitrust authorities, he said.
A big tie-up attempt in Germany, however, failed recently. The planned merger of unlisted container shipping group Hapag-Lloyd with rival Hamburg-Sued was called off in March because terms could not be agreed.
Key Hapag-Lloyd shareholder Klaus-Michael Kuehne on Thursday was quoted as saying by German monthly Manager Magazin that Hapag-Lloyd may either have to find a new partner or shrink its business to focus on profitable market segments and regions. (Reporting by Jan Schwartz and Ludwig Burger; Editing by David Cowell)
(c) 2013 Thomson Reuters, Click For Restrictions
Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update
Essential maritime and offshore news, insights, and updates delivered daily straight to your inbox
(Bloomberg) — The biggest labor union at South Africa’s state-owned port and rail company are starting final talks with a third-party arbitrator to resolve a wage dispute and stave off...
The US and China will temporarily lower tariffs on each other’s products in a dramatic ratcheting down of trade tensions that buys the world’s two largest economies three months to work toward a broader agreement.
Finland’s premier icebreaker designer, Aker Arctic, has been awarded a contract to develop a new state-of-the-art mid-size icebreaker. The effort is part of a major fleet renewal program to ready Finland's icebreaking fleet for the changing requirements in the Baltic Sea. The country is also part of the ICE Pact with Finnish yards looking to construct icebreakers for Canada and the U.S.
Subscribe to gCaptain Daily and stay informed with the latest global maritime and offshore news
Stay informed with the latest maritime and offshore news, delivered daily straight to your inbox
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
Sign Up
Join The Club
