The global container pecking order has been revised with Saturday's news China's COSCO Shipping Holdings (together with port group Shanghai International Ports Group) has finally sealed a deal to buy Hong Kong's OOIL, parent of OOCL, for some US$6.3 billion. T he Tung family has accepted the state-backed takeover at HK$78.67 a share, a 31.1% premium to Friday's closing price. Once the deal achieves relevant clearances COSCO will hold 90.1% of OOIL with SIPG the remainder. COSCO, which only last year completed a state-directed merger with China Shipping, will then hold a 11.6% market share and leapfrog CMA CGM (11.3%) to take third place behind Maersk and MSC.
Alphaliner calculates the combined COSCO-OOCL will operate more than 400 vessels with capacity exceeding 2.9 million TEU. Needless to add, the takeover will have a major an immediate impact on Australian and New Zealand trades with Asia, in which COSCO and OOCL are both leading players.
Alphaliner has also calculated that once this sale completes, the Maersk Line/Hamburg Süd takeover becomes fully effective and the ONE combination is operational the Top 10 container lines will control almost 82% of the global market. |