AP Moller-Maersk said mergers like the combination of its three main Japanese rivals – NYK, K-Line and MOL - provided relief to an ailing industry that had been characterised by over-capacity.
It’s the latest example of industry measures to create scale in an effort to adapt to a world in which freight rates have been under pressure since 2007, said a Bloomberg report.
Soren Skou, Maersk Line’s CEO and also head of the Maersk group, said last month it would stop buying new ships and instead try to expand through takeovers.
“We welcome consolidation,” Mikkel Elbek Linnet, a spokesman for Maersk Line, told Bloomberg. “Our industry is fragmented and consolidation can help transform our business for the benefit of our customers.”
An excess of vessels and weak trade growth have driven container lines to try to under-bid each other on the rates they offer clients. The climate has proven lethal for some industry members, with South Korea’s biggest line Hanjin Shipping filing for bankruptcy protection in August.
Efforts to date to consolidate have included agreements in parts of the industry to share ships, to avoid the cost of building up individual fleets. But Maersk says that may be a less effective way to achieve scale than outright mergers.
