Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV merged to become the fourth largest liner shipping company in the world.
Shipping has struggled in recent years, with major shipping companies seeking alliances to scale up and reduce costs in order to gain a foothold in the competitive global shipping world. Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV recently completed the merger, which is reported to save Hapag-Lloyd $300 million annually. The merger of the container liner business of Hapag-Lloyd in Germany and the South American Steamship (CSAV) in Chile has been officially completed, making it the fourth largest liner shipping company in the world in terms of capacity accounting. The merger was proposed in April this year, and all relevant regulatory authorities have now agreed to the merger, and the terms of the merger have been satisfied. Hapag-Lloyd said in a statement Tuesday that the merger with South American steamship container shipping could result in $300 million in annual savings. After the merger, the new company has more than 200 container ships, with a total capacity of about 1 million TEU, and the annual cargo volume of container delivery owners and freight forwarders is about 7.5 million TEU. After the merger, the headquarters of the new company will remain in Hamburg. In addition, it will set up an important regional branch in Chile to handle Latin American business. CSAV will become a new core shareholder in the Hapag-Lloyd structure, excluding HGV (Hamburg City) and Kühne Marine, with an original 30% stake in the new combined entity.