By Costas Paris And Ruth Bender
France's CMA CGM SA, the world's third-biggest
container-shipping operator by capacity, on Wednesday said it
bought Germany's Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampfschiffs-Rhederei
GmbH for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition, talks for which The Wall Street Journal
reported Monday, is the latest move by global shipping majors to
control the maximum amount of tonnage in the water as the
sea-freight industry remains plagued by overcapacity and falling
freight rates. CMA CGM plans to use OPDR's "short sea" fleet to
feed cargo into its giant oceangoing vessels.
"This is a continuation of our strategy to broaden our regional
network, a strategy which began with the acquisition of MacAndrews
in 2002," said Farid Salem, CMA CGM group executive officer.
Besides the acquisition of London-based MacAndrews & Co.,
similar past buys by CMA CGM include Africa-focused Delmas, of
France; Australia's ANL; U.S. Lines, of Santa Ana, Calif.; and
Taipei-based CNC.
OPDR owns five small container ships and charters a further
three, each able to carry around 700 containers. It mainly moves
cargo from Northern European ports to Spain, Portugal and
Morocco.
The latest deal comes as the French giant prepares to launch
early next year combined services with China Shipping Container
Lines Co. and United Arab Shipping Co. as part of the so-called
Ocean Three alliance. The alliance plans to operate a combined 129
vessels, controlling around 20% of all cargo moved on the
Asia-Europe loop, 14% of cargo crossing the Pacific Ocean and 10%
of that crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
By sharing ships and ports, the three partners expect to save
close to $1 billion annually in operating costs.
A.P. Møller-Mærsk A/S's Maersk Line, of Denmark, the world's
biggest container-shipping operator in terms of capacity, and No. 2
Mediterranean Shipping Co., of Switzerland, also plan to launch
next year their own alliance, called 2M.
Although those deals fall short of full mergers, shipping
executives say the alliances will gradually push smaller players
out of the main trade loops as they will be unable to compete both
in terms of cost and port calls. With fewer players in the trade,
freight rates are expected to rise and help the industry recover
from one of its longest ever down-cycles, which began with the
collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008.
Germany's Hapag-Lloyd AG and Chile's Compania Sud Americana de
Vapores SA agreed to merge earlier this year to create the world's
fourth-largest container-shipping group.
CMA CGM reported Monday a $201 million net profit for the third
quarter, joining Maersk Line and only a handful of other shipping
operators to stay in the black this year.
Access Investor Kit for Compania Sud Americana de Vapores SA
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=CLP3064M1019
Access Investor Kit for China Shipping Container Lines Co.,
Ltd.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=CNE100000536
Access Investor Kit for China Shipping Container Lines Co.,
Ltd.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=CNE1000008F2
Access Investor Kit for A.P. Møller-Maersk A/S
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=DK0010244425
Access Investor Kit for A.P. Møller-Maersk A/S
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=DK0010244508
Access Investor Kit for A.P. Møller-Maersk A/S
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US00202F1021
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires