P&ON acquires Blue Star

P&O NEDLLOYD is to acquire the container shipping business of the British Blue Star Line Limited and its subsidiaries for approximately 60 million pounds (R480m).
Blue Star Line has a strong position in the market for refrigerated cargo from the Southern to the Northern hemisphere. It owns 11 ships with a total container carrying capacity of around 15 000 teus (twenty foot equivalent units) which operate between Australia/New Zealand and North America, the Middle East and Asia. It also has routes between North Europe/Mediterranean and Central and South America.
This consolidates our position as a leading operator world-wide of reefer containers, an aspect that is crucial to SA export markets, especially following deregulation, P&ON m.d. John Turner told FTW.