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By Anne Hunter
Anne Hunter is the New Zealand correspondent for IHS Fairplay, a weekly international shipping magazine and
daily online news service. She specialises in writing articles on the maritime industry and trade.
anne.hunter@xtra.co.nz
The oligopolisation* of container shipping owned Hamburg Süd was taken over by Maersk in 2017
Therewas acertain ironyinthe1April2017(AprilFools ± D PHUJHU ¿QDOO\ FOHDUHG E\ DOO UHOHYDQW LQWHUQDWLRQDO
'D\ ODXQFK GDWH RI WKH WKUHH ELJ QHZ VKLSSLQJ DOOLDQFHV competition authorities albeit with certain conditions set
thatwoulddominateglobalshippingvolume.Withtheir by both the European and Chinese authorities.
RSHUDWLRQDO IRFXV RQ WKH $VLD (XURSH DQG WUDQV 3DFL¿F Some of those conditions are extremely stringent in
trades, the three vessel-sharing container shipping their requirements for withdrawal from certain trades
alliances are: and alliances by both Maersk and Hamburg Süd.
•2M–Maerskand MSC(withHyundaiMerchantMarine Recognised as one of the toughest conditions, is
DOLPLWHG SDUWQHU the one from the European Commission requiring that
• THE Alliance – Hapag-Lloyd, Yang Ming, KLine, NYK Hamburg Süd must withdraw from consortia which
and MOL. DPRQJ RWKHU WUDGHV OLQNV WKH 6RXWK $PHULFD :HVW
• OCEAN Alliance – CMA CGM, COSCo, Evergreen, OOCL. Coast to Europe. This, says the experts, leaves MSC in a
dominant position on that route.
In the light of even more recent merger and Alplaliner estimates that in 2015 Hamburg Süd had a
DFTXLVLWLRQ 0 $ DFWLYLW\ WKH PHPEHUVKLS RI WKHVH 26 percent container volume market share on the US/
alliances may well change in 2018 as the new merged Australia/New Zealand trade and a 42 percent share on
forces settle down together. the New Zealand/Australia/US trade, while Maersk had a
2016and2017wereyearsofintenseM&Aactivity: nine percent and 12 percent share respectively.
• CMA CGM acquired Singapore's NOL and its container Mike Knowles of Zespri and chairman of the NZ
unit APL. Shippers Council said his organisation's initial concern
•COSCoandChinaShipping,China's twobiggest centres on the dominant market share of the combined
shipping lines, merged into COSCo. force on the New Zealand trade. "With Maersk and
• Hapag-Lloyd acquired CSAV of Chile and then United +DPEXUJ 6G ZH KDYH WKH PHUJHU RI WKH ¿UVW DQG VHFRQG
$UDE 6KLSSLQJ 8$6& ranked container operators on the New Zealand trade.
•MaerskacquiredHamburgSüd. *OREDOO\ WKH LPSDFW LV OHVV ZLWK 0DHUVN DW PLG \HDU
•COSCoacquiredOOILanditscontainerunitOOCL. holding an estimated 15.7 percent global market share
1<. 02/ DQG . /LQH -DSDQ V WKUHH PDLQ OLQHV KDYH against Hamburg Süd's three percent. But, estimates
formed a new joint venture operating company (as yet indicate that on the New Zealand trade in total, Maersk
XQQDPHG XQRI¿FLDOO\ FDOOHG IRU WLPH EHLQJ - ,W ZLOO has around 35 percent market share and Hamburg Süd
commence joint operations by April 2018. 17 percent, which gives the merged force a concerning
50 percent market share.”
While generally accepted that New Zealand will be (How well the two retain those shares depends
insulated from any major 'damage' arising from this to some extent, on the success of the merger and
consolidation among the primarily east/west focused integration process. International maritime consultancy
lines, their deployment of increased vessel capacity, Drewry estimates that when Maersk took over P&O
their redeployment and repositioning of tonnage, will Nedlloyd, it lost 53 percent of PONL's market share.
inevitably cascade tonnage onto smaller trades like Similarly, when Hapag-Lloyd bought CP Ships, it lost
New Zealand where the capacity may not be suitable or what was estimated at the time, to be 48 percent of the
needed. DFTXLUHG PDUNHW VKDUH
Hamburg Süd was the last remaining carrier among
the ‘top 10’ operators with a clear focus on the north/ Further consolidation
south trades. A strong reefer carrier, the German- In mid-2017 Maersk CEO Soren Skou told the London-
44 NZ Export & Trade Handbook 2018
