[141016.EN.BIZ] Hapag-Lloyd CEO Expects More Mergers In Wake of Hanjin Collapse

THE bankruptcy of Korea's Hanjin Shipping will spark more mergers as container lines worldwide try to weather the storm buffeting the industry, says Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen.

In the past two years, a new wave of mergers has witnessed the disappearance of five of the 20 biggest carriers, noted Bloomberg News.

"A lot of people hadn't expected the difficulties for Hanjin in the magnitude we have seen them," Mr Habben Jansen said. "It will change behaviour," with some assessing whether it might be better to "team up".

Germany's biggest carrier, which has used mergers to bring down costs and counter the slump that has shaken shipping for the past eight years, doesn't plan to buy the Asian company or its assets.

"We will look at the vessels like everyone else, but our primary objective is not to grow faster than the market," Mr Habben Jansen, forecasting company growth at two to three per cent this year.

Having already absorbed the container shipping business of Chile's CSAV, Hapag-Lloyd is full engaged completing its merger with United Arab Shipping Co (UASC) which has "quite a lot of capacity".

Source : HKSG.