Hamburg Sud News

A new container shipping line has been launched in Saudi Arabia.The newly formed company, Folk Maritime, will provide feeder vessel and short-sea shipping services in the Middle East and the surrounding region.The Riyadh-headquartered company is led by CEO Poul Hestbaek, who previously served as CEO of Maersk's Hamburg Sud.Other executives include chief commercial officer Saleem Kadernani, chief financial officer Khalid Fawzi and chief human resources officer Abdulrahman Alshangiti.

Container shipping giant Maersk on Wednesday agreed to buy Hong Kong-based LF Logistics for $3.6 billion in an all-cash deal, as it seeks to expand beyond its core ocean freight business.The deal is one of the group's largest takeovers to date and follows a series of acquisitions including e-commerce firms, a freight forwarder specializing in air freight and its smaller rival Hamburg Sud."The acquisition will further strengthen Maersk's capabilities as an integrated container logistics company…

Maersk's towage arm Svitzer announced it has opened a new Americas regional headquarters in Panama City.Svitzer said it decided early last year to relocate its Americas headquarters from Miami, U.S. to Panama and move into the Panama Design Center, which also houses other entities of the Maersk Group including Sealand Americas, APM Terminals, Hamburg-Sud, Twill, and Maersk Liner Operations Clusters.Arjen van Dijk, managing director of Svitzer Americas, said, “Panama is an important, strategic maritime hub with good infrastructure and easy connections to nearby countries and ports.

Maersk will cut jobs in a major shake-up that will affect a third of the shipping giant's staff as it seeks to integrate its seaborne container and in-land logistics businesses, it said on Tuesday.Maersk, which handles about one in five containers shipped worldwide, has been under pressure from investors to speed its transformation from an unwieldy conglomerate but has proved resilient in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.Cost cuts and its reinstatement of more upbeat guidance last month have helped to double its share price since March and the shares were trading 0.9% up at 9,652 crowns by 08

“If consolidation was the solution to all that ails shipping, then container liner companies would be super profitable. They are not. In ‘commoditized’ sectors of the shipping industry, which by now includes pretty much everything apart from very small niche markets, there is hardly any economies of scale at the company level. As long as bigger is not in fact much better, then meaningful consolidation will not happen.”Dr. Roar Adland, visiting scholar at MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics and Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).Like any other business…

German shipping group Hamburg Süd announced that it is selling its bulk shipping business to Singapore’s China Navigation Company (CNCo), part of the Swire Group,  as it focusses on its liner business with its two container shipping brands, Hamburg Süd and Aliança.The agreement includes Hamburg Süd subsidiaries Rudolf A. Oetker (RAO), Furness Withy Chartering and the bulk activities in Aliança Navegação e Logística (Aliabulk).A.P. Møller – Maersk acquired the bulk shipping, tanker and container liner businesses of Hamburg Süd in November 2017.The bulk shipping business in Hamburg Süd operates from Hamburg, London, Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro with a chartered fleet of approximately 45 vessels in the segments: Handysize…

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded ratings for AP Moller-Maersk after a review of the Denmark-based shipping and oil company. Moody's expressed concerns about lower economic growth and the US-China trade war."The downgrade reflects our expectation that Maersk will face increased market and execution risks and, as a result, operate at a higher leverage than is commensurate with a Baa2 rating for a company in such a volatile and cyclical business as container shipping," said Maria Maslovsky, Moody's Vice President -- Senior Analyst and the lead analyst for Maersk."However, we acknowledge Maersk's leadership position as a liner and container terminal operator…

Top U.S. importers are stocking up on Chinese goods before new import tariffs take effect, shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Wednesday, but warned a trade war would hit demand for container shipping in the coming years.Maersk's data indicated that imports into the United States from China had grown 5 to 10 percent year-on-year in the third quarter as companies such as Walmart and Home Depot built up inventories to avoid new import tariffs, Chief Executive Soren Skou said."The irony is that after (U.S.

NOAA presented awards to 13 global shipping firms for their commitment in helping prevent ship collisions with whales off the coast of California.The companies participated in a Voluntary Speed Reduction initiative by slowing their ships to speeds of 10 knots (about 11.5 mph) or lower while transiting vessel traffic lanes outside the Golden Gate during whale feeding season, from May through mid-November.The national marine sanctuaries of North-central California - Greater Farallones…

A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Friday it would spin off its offshore drilling operation and list it in Copenhagen next year, the latest move by the Danish shipping company to focus entirely on transport and logistics.Maersk, which cut its full-year profit outlook this month, sold Maersk Oil to French oil major Total last year in a $7.5 billion deal as part of a restructuring under Soren Skou, who became chief executive in 2016.Skou used to head Maersk's container business and is a…

Drewry says that recovering demand recovery in the North America-East Coast South America box trades provides encouragement, but local political conditions bear watching. Elsewhere, reports that Maersk and MSC are reviewing their Iran operations underpins broader political uncertainties that could get in the way. North America-East Coast South America box tradesMaritime Research Consultancy Drewry is reporting that the headhaul East Coast South America to North America trade fell by 1% in the first quarter 2018 to 137,000 teu. Brazil owns as much 85% of that market where the slowdown was mostly a function of waning US demand for major commodities. Nevertheless, wood shipments improved sharply to offset lower volumes for other cargoes.

Container shipping group CMA CGM said it expects a rebound in the industry to continue this year on the back of brisk economic growth, playing down the immediate impact of geopolitical tensions. French-based CMA CGM, one of the world's biggest container lines, reported on Friday a $701 million net profit for last year, confirming its turnaround after a shipping downturn in 2016 when it suffered a $452 million loss. "We are rather optimistic about 2018, despite the geopolitical problems," Chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saade told Reuters by telephone.

Partners in an initiative to cut air pollution and protect whales have announced results from the 2017 program and publicly recognized the 11 shipping companies who participated, reducing speeds to 12 knots or less in two regions. For the first time the program included speed reduction zones in the San Francisco Bay Area in addition to the Santa Barbara Channel region. The voluntary incentive program started July 1 and ended November 15, 2017. Automatic Identification System (AIS) data for ship speeds in the program verified that more than 140 transits were successful in reducing speeds to 12 knots or less, and more than half of these were successful in achieving a bonus incentive for slowing to 10 knots or less.

Analysts believe results and outlook in the final quarter report of Maersk (Feb. 9) might be weighed down by consolidation effects from the Hamburg Sud deal and the market situation in China. Morgan Stanley says integration expenses related to the deal would limit profitability contribution in 2018 and that Maersk Line will return to peak EBIT margins in 2020. Jyske Bank, which keeps rating "sell" for the company, sees a potential threat to Maersk Line Q4 volumes and EBITDA from significant cuts in China's import of waste materials. Brokerage SEB takes a more optimistic stance on the Danish shipping group as it expects a better supply/demand balance in 2018-19. Separately, J.P. Morgan sees H1 2018 freight rate environment "highly volatile", while considering FY19 to look attractive.

The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) in China approved Danish shipping giant Maersk Line’s proposed acquisition of Hamburg Süd, reported Reuters. Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping company, will pay 3.7 billion euros ($4.3 billion) to buy German rival Hamburg Sud. However, China has put in place restrictions on Hamburg Süd and Maersk Line’s use of vessel-sharing agreements (VSA). The ministry, in a statement, said the company could not enter a new ship sharing alliance on Far East-South America routes in the five years after the deal. The company will withdraw some ships from certain routes such as the Far East-western coast of South America, it added.

A.P. Moller-Maersk's main sea freight business faces the threat of a new price war in a consolidating industry, though the company has been fortified by the $7.5 billion sale of its oil and gas business to France's Total Reuters reported. Maersk, the world's biggest container shipping company, has shifted its focus this year from preserving market share to higher margins, a strategy that was helped by a recovery in freight rates, the report said. Reuters quoted Chief Executive Soren Skou saying that the company's second quarter results last week "were driven by higher freight rates alone" and that underlying industry fundamentals were their best since 2010.

Direct services between Asia and the East Coast of South America will begin port calls at APM Terminals Buenos Aires, Argentina, and APM Terminals Itajaí, Brazil. The joint service deployed by Hapag-Lloyd, NYK, ZIM, Hyundai and Hamburg Sud prefers their vessels call APM Terminals' facilities in Itajai (Brazil) and T4 in Buenos Aires (Argentina). The weekly Asian service, operated jointly with 13 vessels from Hapag-Lloyd, NYK, Zim, Hamburg Süd and Hyundai, will call the Asian ports of Kelang, Singapore, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Shekou and Busan. The service will begin August 25th with the arrival of the first vessel into Terminal 4 Buenos Aires.

French container shipping company CMA CGM announced the launch of its new service between the west coast of the United States, Central America and South America, to be operated in collaboration with the German shipping company Hamburg Sud. Starting May 24, CMA CGM will offer a weekly service with coverage to/from the west coast of the United States, Central America and South America, enabling the agri-food industry in Central and South America to export to North American markets. The service also has the possibility of fast connections with the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Colombia through the hubs of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico and Buenaventura, Colombia.

German shipping line Hapag Lloyd is close to completing a merger with United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) after UASC's shareholders agreed terms to repay outstanding debts, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters. The deal to create the world's fifth-biggest shipping company, valued at about 7 billion to 8 billion euros ($7.8-$8.9 billion), had been scheduled to complete at the end of last year. It would give Hapag Lloyd access to bigger ships on the major Asia to Europe trade route.

The world's biggest container shipping company Maersk Line will pay 3.7 billion euros ($4.02 billion) for its acquisition of smaller German rival Hamburg Sud, it said on Friday. Combined, the two companies will be able to realise annual operational savings of about $350 million to $400 million, Maersk Line said in a statement fleshing out detail on the deal announced in December. "By keeping Hamburg Sud as a separate and well-run company, we will limit the transaction and integration risks and costs while still extracting the operational synergies," said Soren Skou, CEO of both Maersk Line and its parent A.P. Moller-Maersk Group. The boards of Maersk Line and the Oetker Group…

World No. 1 shipping company Maersk Line gained EU antitrust approval on Monday for its acquisition of Hamburg Sud (HSDG) after agreeing to pull the German company out from five consortia on trade routes to address competition concerns. The bid by Maersk, part of Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk , underscores the wave of mergers in an industry struggling with over-capacity and slowing global trade. Hamburg Sud will withdraw from the consortia on trade routes connecting northern Europe to central America…

EU antitrust regulators will approve Maersk Line's acquisition of German peer Hamburg Sud after the world's biggest shipping company agreed to pull Hamburg Sud out from some trade route groups, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday. Maersk, part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, unveiled the bid in December last year, part of a wave of mergers in the industry seeking to deal with low freight rates and oversupply. The concession was made to address the European Commission's concerns about the competitive impact of the deal, the source said.

Maersk Line, the world's biggest container shipping firm and part of Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk, has offered concessions to EU antitrust regulators in an attempt to get approval for the takeover of German rival Hamburg Sud. A ruling on the deal, one of several in an industry seeking consolidation to offset low freight rates and oversupply, will now be given by the European Commission by April 10, according to the commission's website on Wednesday. The deadline was…