Neptune Orient Lines Ltd News

CMA CGM has reported its all-cash voluntary unconditional general offer for Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (NOL) closed on July 18, 2016, with CMA CGM now owning approximately 97.83 per cent of NOL's share capital. Monday July 18 marked the last day of trading in shares of NOL on the Singapore Exchange. Trading in NOL was suspended. Singapore's former national shipping company was acquired in a 3.38 billion Singapore dollar ($2.5 billion) acquisition by the French shipping line CMA CGM. CMA has passed the required threshold allowing it to compel any remaining shareholders to sell; it has initiated the process for compulsory acquisition of the remaining two percent of shares on the market, at the same price offered for the voluntary buyout.

According to WSJ report, deals involving Cosco, China Shipping, CMA CGM and Neptune Orient Lines to bring major changes in global shipping alliances. China Cosco Shipping and CMA CGM are hoping to form a new alliance with OOCL, Evergreen Line, and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, according to sources in the Chinese shipping industry. According to the Alphaliner, CMA CGM and Cosco are leading efforts to create a new vessel-sharing alliance that could include Evergreen Line and OOCL and would shake up three of the four major east-west carrier groupings. CMA CGM’s plans to bring APL into the O3 Alliance once the NOL acquisition is done has put the spotlight on the G6 Alliance.

The need of the hour is consolidation of container ship lines order to regain profitability and to overcome financial struggles, consulting firm AlixPartners says in a new report. The report says that an increased supply of vessels, coupled with the introduction of giant ships, had met with a dwindling demand in the second half of last year resulting to overcapacity, low profitability and reduced cash flow. The shippers with “M&A on their minds need to be proactive” if they hope to reap the kind of rewards winners in consolidated industries enjoy—or to prevent becoming acquisition targets themselves, the consultants suggested, pointing to the successful consolidation of the US airline industry as a possible template to follow.

The merger between China Shipping group and the Cosco Group has given rise to a mammoth company that could trigger stability and extended consolidation in the global shipping industry, says a report in the WSJ. The merger will free the two Chinese shipping groups from competing against each other at home and abroad, in an industry swamped with oversupply and depressed freight rates. The new world leader in shipping industry is likely to own 832 ships including containers, dry-bulk vessels and tankers amounting to almost $22 billion. In comparison, AP Moller Maersk owns only 262 containers ships, which have a total value of $12.3 billion according to VesselsValue.com.

France’s CMA CGM has approached banks to finance its potential takeover bid for Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (NOL), reports Bloomberg. The world’s No. 3 container shipping company is in talks with banks including BNP Paribas SA, HSBC Holdings Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. for loans to back an offer for NOL. CMA CGM is the third largest container company in the world and has 8.8 per cent of market share according to container analyst Alphaliner. NOL was started as Singapore’s national shipping line, and following a US$285 million merger in 1997 with American President Lines (APL), it has developed into a company with more than 6,000 staff across 80 countries.

France’s CMA CGM SA is in exclusive talks to buy Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (NOL), the shipping company and its Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Ltd., its largest shareholder, said. The deal would bring together the world’s third-largest container company with Southeast Asia’s biggest container shipper. If materialises, it would be one of the biggest acquisitions in the shipping container industry in years. NOL, whose ships operate under the APL brand, said that Temasek had granted CMA CGM exclusivity “with respect to a potential acquisition of NOL by way of pre-conditional voluntary general offer”. Acquiring Neptune Orient would help consolidate CMA CGM’s position in the global container market along with Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co.

France's CMA CGM, the world's third-largest container shipping firm, said freight rates should recover next year after a market downturn led to a sharp fall in its third-quarter profits. The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, hit a new all-time low on Friday, pulled down by a vessel glut and slowing industrial demand from China. "Freight rates are expected to remain weak in the fourth quarter of 2015. The market should rebalance during 2016," family-owned CMA CGM said in its third-quarter results statement on Friday.

Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (NOL)  has officially confirmed that it is a takeover target of two separate companies: French shipping company CMA CGM and Danish conglomerate AP Moeller-Maersk. As per a report in the Business Times, NOL said in an announcement on Saturday evening that it was in preliminary talks with the two "with respect to a potential acquisition of NOL". "There is no assurance that any such discussions will result in any definitive agreement or transaction, or that any offer for NOL will be made or as to the terms on which any such offer might be made," it said. The firm has been looking for a buyer for months. NOL, controlled by Singapore’s state investor Temasek Holdings, has been struggling in a prolonged downturn in the global shipping market.

Shipping company Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (NOL) said on Friday its third-quarter net loss widened from a year earlier to $96 million, due to weak freight rates. NOL, controlled by Singapore's state investor Temasek Holdings, reported a revenue of $1.2 billion for the third quarter, which fell 28 percent on the year. "The absence of the traditional third-quarter peak season in Europe and North America led to severe freight rates erosion in major trade lanes," said NOL Group President and CEO Ng Yat Chung in a statement. Reporting by Rujun Shen

Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (NOL) swung to a tiny net profit in its second quarter after six straight quarters of losses but said it had seen severe freight rate erosion. "The group's container shipping business continued to face a challenging environment characterised by over-capacity and weak market demand," NOL Group CEO Ng Yat Chung said in a statement on Thursday. The container shipping line, controlled by Singapore's state investor Temasek Holdings, reported a net profit of $3 million in the quarter ending June 30 versus a net loss of $54 million a year earlier. People familiar with the matter told Reuters this month that Temasek had hired a bank to seek buyers for NOL.

Singapore state investment company Temasek Holdings has put up its struggling $1.7 billion shipping company for sale, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (NOL), 65 percent-owned by Temasek, announced in February the sale of its logistics business to Japanese freight carrier Kintetsu World Express Inc for $1.2 billion. NOL's move to sell its logistics business had renewed market speculation of a sale of the entire company. An NOL spokeswoman declined to comment, while Temasek Holdings was not immediately available after office hours. Reporting by Shubhankar Chakravorty and Anshuman Daga

Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines Ltd slipped into the fourth straight year of losses in 2014, though the fourth-quarter net loss narrowed from a year earlier, the company said on Friday. The shipping and logistics company reported a net loss of $259.8 million for the year, compared with a loss of $76.3 million in 2013 and a mean forecast of $191.3 million loss, based on a Reuters poll of 15 analysts. Its fourth-quarter net loss stood at $85.1 million, down 38 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement. "More port congestion, resulting from further deterioration in the labour situation on the US West Coast, is a potential risk factor," NOL said. Reporting by Rujun Shen

Shares rise 5 pct after improved guidance, better quarter than expected. Maersk indicates more buybacks after first in its history. Efficiency, cost savings boost Maersk Line compared to rivals. Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk announced the first share buy-back in its 110-year history on Tuesday as an overhaul of the sprawling shipping and oil empire leaves it with more cash than it can usefully invest. Maersk shares jumped 5 percent after the company reported better than expected quarterly earnings and raised its 2014 profit guidance, as cost cuts at its container shipping arm help it navigate weakness in the global economy. "The share buy-back program ...

Container shipper Neptune Orient Lines Ltd posted a net loss of $97.9 million for the quarter ended April 4, a narrower loss from the previous quarter. NOL, in which Singapore's state investor Temasek Holdings has a 67 percent stake, recorded a net profit of $75.5 million for the first quarter of 2013, which was a result of one-off gain on selling its corporate headquarter in Singapore. The company posted a 4 percent drop in revenue to $2.3 billion. "Oversupply of shipping capacity will continue to exert pressure on liner freight rates," NOL said in a statement. "The group aims to improve its financial performance in 2014, through its continued focus on cost discipline and drive for operational efficiency."   Reporting by Rujun Shen

Diana Containerships Inc. (Nasdaq:DCIX),  signed  through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, a Memorandum of Agreement with Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. for the purchase of a 1995-built. Panamax container vessel of approximately 4,750 TEU capacity, the m/v "APL Garnet", for a purchase price of $30 million. The vessel is expected to be delivered to the Company from the sellers around the 19th of November, 2012. The vessel is to be chartered to NOL Liner (Pte.) Ltd. (or a guaranteed nominee or other entity of the NOL Group, subject to the Company's approval), for a period of thirty-four (34) months at a rate  of US$27,000 per day, with 30 days more or less at the charterer's option.

Maersk, owner of the world’s largest shipping line, has benefited the most from the U.S. military’s dependence on commercial lines, according to a report in 'Longshore & Shipping News'. The company, based in Copenhagen, received almost half the military’s $1.82 billion in contracts last year to ship supplies and equipment around the globe, most of it tied to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Defense Department data. Maersk also arranges rail and truck transport as part of the agreements. While the military accounts for a small share of Maersk’s revenue, the work tends to offer higher margins because of its specialized nature, said Jacob Pedersen, an analyst with Sydbank A/S (SYDB) in Denmark.

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said that it sees Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Ltd. benefiting from potential orders after a revival of interest from container shipping firms in larger vessels. The broker’s outlook came after reports that Taiwan's Evergreen, the world's sixth-largest container shipping firm, ordered 10 vessels with a capacity of 13,800 twenty-foot containers (TEU) each. "Evergreen Marine decided to lease ten 13,800-TEU container ships from Korea Infrastructure Investments Asset Management Co (KIIMA). KIIMA will place new build orders with Hyundai Heavy," the broker said in a report. Merrill has a buy rating on Yangzijiang's stock with a target price of S$2.12.

Resurgent interest in construction of giant container ships likely to benefit Chinese shipbuilder Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, as reported by Reuters America Latina news, said it sees China-based Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Ltd benefiting from potential orders after a revival of interest from container shipping firms in bigger vessels, . Reports indicate that Taiwan's Evergreen, the world's sixth-largest container shipping firm, ordered 10 vessels with a capacity of 13,800 twenty-foot containers (TEU) each. Last year, the world's largest container shipping company, Maersk Line, ordered 10 18,000 TEU ships and later exercised the option for another 10, sparking others like Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines Ltd to increase their fleet.

Ron Widdows to take over from Jan B Steffens as CEO of Rickmers Holding and Rickmers-Linie. After ten very successful years with the Rickmers Group and especially, with Rickmers-Linie, Jan B Steffens will by 31 March 2012 step down from the twin positions of CEO of Rickmers Holding and of Rickmers-Linie although he will continue to serve on the Rickmers Group advisory board. Ronald D Widdows, former CEO of NOL/APL, is to become the new Chief Executive Officer of Rickmers Holding and Rickmers-Linie as of 1 April 2012. Rickmers’ Chief Financial Officer Dr Ignace Van Meenen will act as his deputy. Announcing this change, Bertram R C Rickmers…

Container company Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. (NPTOY, N03.SG) on Wednesday said that it has ordered 10 new ships valued at $1.2b. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

BIMCO's President, Michael Everard, has been invited to chair the opening session of the China World Trade Organization (WTO) Shipping Summit, which will be held in Shanghai, China, from 18 to 19 April 2002. After making the opening remarks on the first day, Mr. Everard will introduce the panel, which includes: Mr. Administration Department, Ministry of Communications (MOC); Mr. Cooperation (MOFTEC); Captain Wei Jiafu, President of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) and member of the BIMCO Executive Committee; Mr. Dirk Fry, President of the International Ship Managers As-sociation (ISMA); Mr. Todd Pigeon, Vice President of Maersk Data USA Inc.; Mr. Flemming R. Jacobs, Group President and CEO of Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. (NOL); Mr. Sooho Cho, Vice Chairman of Hanjin Shipping Co.

Bloomberg reported that Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. and 11 of the largest shipping companies plying the Pacific Ocean said costs of moving cargo to the U.S. in 2006 will rise 7 percent on higher fuel prices, which may spur them to raise freight rates. The cost of transporting containers by trucks and railways will increase as much as 25 percent, the 12-line Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, whose members ship about 70 percent of trans-Pacific trade, said in a statement today. Neptune Orient, Evergreen Marine Corp. and other Asian shipping companies are struggling with rising costs from higher fuel prices and port fees, amid increased demand for freight to the U.S. and Europe. Concern of a surplus of vessels may limit shipping lines in raising freight rates in 2006 for the fifth year.

Gerhard E. Kurz, president and CEO, Seabulk International, Inc. and Joseph Kwok, COO, Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. were elected to the ABS Board of Directors, by the ABS Council, following the recent Annual Members Meeting of the classification society in New York. Kurz is responsible for the revitalization of Seabulk International, Inc. (formerly Hvide Marine Inc.), and Kwok is COO of the NOL group of companies and also its CEO of chartering. He is responsible for the entire group's fleet operations. Also elected to the ABS Council at the Annual meeting were Choo Chian Beng, chairman and managing director, Keppel FELS; Mustafa A. Jalali, president and CEO, Aramco Services Company; Dr. Frank F.H. Lu, chairman, Taiwan Navigation Co.; and A.P. (Paul) Revere, president, Sea River Maritime.