Rumours of a merger between Taiwan shipping lines Yang Ming and Evergreen Marine have been quashed by Bronson Hsieh, Chairman of Yang Ming, reported JOC.com
The merging rumours began as the three Japanese industry giants NYK, MOL and K-Line created an alliance which is now the 3rd largest carrier company in the shipping industry, owning 7% of the market.
The merging of container divisions is trending in the current market due to financial concerns for shipping companies as oversupply chokes the industry, but Mr Hsieh states this will not happen to his company; he said: “Statutory merger means two companies merge and one of them will be eliminated, you think Yang Ming will buy Evergreen and Evergreen will be eliminated? Is that possible? No way.”
Mr Hsieh continued: “Would Evergreen merge with Yang Ming? I don’t think it’s possible, don’t forget, Yang Ming has one third of its share owned by the government. Are you going to buy a company owned by the government?”
With the current state of the shipping industry, and since the collapse of Hanjin Shipping on August 31, 2016, more and more carriers and shipping companies have been taking steps to merge operations in a bid to stay afloat.
Tadaaki Naito, President of Nippon Yusen, said of the newest NYK, MOL and K-Line merger: “If we don’t want the number of Japanese shipping companies to be zero, we need to create one strong, splendid company.”
