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Page 2 of 3
He
said Hapag-Lloyd has 22 per cent of its
cargo from Asia-Europe lanes and 23 per
cent from transpacific traffic.
"This
means that 45 per cent of the cargo comes
from the major east-west routes, which are
the subject of massive competition, and
will remain so due to the large ships that
will be inserted on the routes," Mr
Jensen explained.
Alphaliner
said the combined German carrier would be
particularly strong on the Latin American
trades as 36 per cent of the combined fleet
would be deployed on the relevant services.
Besides,
Robin Byde, a London-based shipping analyst
of global financial services provider Cantor
Fitzgerald, was quoted by Financial Times
as saying: "These are mid-tier companies
that need to consolidate. This is an industry
with 10 major players when a sensible number
is about six."
However,
can the preliminary negotiations over a
merger proceed to a more concrete stage?
Like many other mergers, obstacles often
come from inside.
The
two carriers had similar talks in 1997,
but that endeavour failed in the end because
the two carriers could not reach a consensus
on financial terms and on the final control
of a combined company.
Other
obstacles to the merger are the different
corporate structures and cultures. Hapag-Lloyd
is co-owned by the German travel and tourism
group TUI AG with 22 per cent and by the
Hamburg-based Albert Ballin consortium with
78 per cent, while Hamburg Sud is owned
by one of the richest German families -
the Oetker Group.
The
structure of the Albert Ballin consortium
is complex. It comprises two major shareholders
- the City of Hamburg with 37 per cent of
Hapag-Lloyd and Klaus-Michael Kuehne, the
owner of Swiss-based logistic group Kuehne
+ Nagel, with over 28 per cent. Additionally,
its minor investors include Signal Iduna,
HSH Nordbank, MM Warburg Bank and HanseMerkur.
Compared
to Hamburg Sud, it would be more complicated
for Hapag-Lloyd shareholders to agree on
terms of the merger though some parties
have given the green light to it.
TUI
is keen to quit Hapag-Lloyd, which can be
reflected by the five per cent rise of in
its share price on news that merger talks
were underway. Besides, Klaus-Michael Kuehne,
honorary chairman of Kuehne + Nagel, supports
the merger, according to a Financial Times
report.
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