United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) is mulling the sale of its chemical tanker unit, called United Arab Chemical Carriers (UACC), which could generate more than US$600 million as part of its recent merger deal with German carrier Hapag-Lloyd, according to Bloomberg.
UACC is a mid-sized operator with a fleet of two dozen tankers.
Hapag-Lloyd would also be given immediate access to some of the largest container ships available on the market.
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PTI previously reported that Hapag-Lloyd had agreed on a deal to merge with UASC, which would bring the total estimated value of both companies up to $8.9 billion.
Prior to this, UASC shareholders had backed a potential deal to merge via an Extraordinary General Meeting.
In recent months, carriers have been merging to tackle a market that has been hampered by low freight rates, a glut of overcapacity and a slump on global demand.
A report recently published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development recently found that, due to a series of port concessions, this could lead to severe port overcapacity in some key regions of the world.
