Hapag-Lloyd’s acquisition of Zim an era defining moment

HAMBURG : Hapag-Lloyd’s $4.2 billion deal to buy Zim is the beginning of the end of the container shipping’s age of consolidation as the top carriers vie for market share.

More than 20 years ago, the late great Containerisation International writer John Crichton was mulling over which six carriers would remain after the container shipping market consolidated.

Maersk and MSC were top of the pile, Cosco and a South Korean line would both have government backing, and after that Evergreen and probably Hapag-Lloyd.

As the consolidation of the market approaches its denouement with the German carrier consolidating its fifth position in the pecking order, following the scooping up of the tenth largest carrier in Zim, the container seer’s vision is taking shape nicely.

With the barriers to entry now very high, achieving a top ten billing will be tough, and will need the backing of a state such as India which is investing billions of dollars into the Bharat Container Shipping Line (BCSL), a strategic provision to boost its emergent export market.

Recently, Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben-Jansen explained some of the reasoning behind the acquisition of the Israeli carrier, with the German line essentially buying 99 vessel charter contracts and some service synergies.

Source : Seatrade Maritime