In order to tackle increasing competition in an industry that is consolidating resources, German shipping company Hapag-Llloyd is reportedly in talks to merge with Middle Eastern shipping line United Arab Shipping Company, according to Bloomberg.
Hapag-Lloyd recently announced that it was looking to form partnerships with other lines, while making it clear that it would not be entering into alliance agreements with 2M.
Global shipping lines are currently going through a period of mass consolidation, as they fight the low freight rates and overcapacity that is impacting the container market.
PTI recently reported that the proposed mega-alliance between CMA CGM, OOCL, China Cosco Shipping and Evergreen Line had been given the green light after a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by member companies.
Technical Paper: Tackling the Biggest Alliances
This followed recent news that alliances could be set to get much bigger as lines look to consolidate and capitalise on lower slot costs.
The ever-increasing size of alliances and ships is affecting ports, since larger vessels are cascading into smaller trade lanes, due to more ships entering main trade routes.
As a result, this is putting more pressure on ports to handle larger volumes and rethink about how to optimise operations to remain efficient.
