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천일그룹 |
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2017-04-18 |
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Maersk selling Mercosul to clear Hamburg Sud deal |
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Maersk Line is selling its Brazilian flag subsidiary Mercosul Line to head off possible concerns from competition regulators over its acquisition of Hamburg Sud.
Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense will decide whether or not to approve the deal later this year and Maersk is selling the Brazilian cabotage carrier because Hamburg Sud has its own East Coast South America (ECSA) cabotage and feeder subsidiary in Alianca Navegacao. Had Maersk maintained control of Mercosul Line and gained Alianca, it would have controlled 80 percent of the ECSA cabotage and coastal market.
CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co. are said to desire Brazilian and ECSA cabotage and coastal services, and Maersk has been holding talks with both carriers this week in Sao Paulo, according to various JOC.com sources in Brazil. Those sources said Hapag-Lloyd, which is very strong in Brazil, as well as NYK Line and Cosco Shipping, have also shown interest in Mercosul Line.
Whoever wins the bidding would gain four ships with capacities of 2,500 teus and space for 368 plugs for refrigerated containers. Most importantly, they would gain access to a Brazilian flag, which would allow them to operate along the Brazilian and Mercosur coastline.
A source who works closely with Maersk Line told JOC.com today that Maersk aims to sell the subsidiary even before CADE rules.
“Maersk Line understands full well that CADE will ask it to sell off one of its two local carriers, either Alianca (which operates 11 vessels) or Mercosul Line (which operates three), and as Alianca is longer established and with a larger market sure it will, of course, keep Alianca and get rid of Mercosul Line,” said the source. “And there seems to be no shortage of interested buyers.”
NYK Line previously had a 10 percent stake in Maestra Navegacao, a cabotage company that started up in 2011, with the rest of the shares owned by Triunfo Participações e Investimentos, a Sao Paulo-based infrastructure company that is a very close confidant and partner to MSC in Brazil. Maestra shut down in 2014 after heavy financial losses.
NYK Line will merge with fellow Japanese carriers MOL and “K” Line later this year, and adding a respectable, well-established Brazilian flag coastal carrier to their network would help the new entity, and bolster Japanese and Brazilian shippers, especially those trading between Japan, the jungle port free zone city of Manaus and Santos.
In addition to Alianca and Mercosul Line, the other major player in the Brazilian coastal trade is the financially struggling Log-In Logistica, which controls around 23 percent of a market that is estimated at around 900,000 teus. Mercosul Line controls 24 percent of the market and Alianca has 55 percent. |
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