In 2016, with the collapse of Hanjin Shipping, Japan sensed a huge sense of crisis. On October 31 of the same year, Japan's three major shipping companies-Japan Post and Shipping Company (NYK), Merchant Shipping Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Kawasaki (Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, K-Line) announced that they would officially conduct container shipping business with 38%, 31% and 31% shares.
The market needs a new integration period.
Recently, NYK, one of the world's largest shipping companies, announced its latest medium-term business plan, aiming to be a decarbonization leader.
In a detailed business plan, NYK, a major shareholder of container shipping company ONE, said its holding company would be committed to "promoting a bold growth strategy while also actively seeking mergers and acquisitions".
NYK pointed out in the strategy that the group plans to support and prioritize the continued growth of ONE, especially in developing markets with great growth potential, adding that ONE will "capture the increase in transportation demand brought about by the increase in demand for general consumer goods brought about by the economic growth of emerging countries. "
In addition, NYK has not clearly and actively sought whether the merger is a consolidation business or a logistics business.
According to Alphaliner data, ONE, jointly operated by NYK and MOL and Kisen Shipping, is the world's seventh largest liner company, with a fleet of 1.53 million TEU's capacity.
The container shipping industry has experienced 10 years of large-scale mergers and acquisitions. Many people believe that the current further merger space is concentrated on niche and regional carriers.
However, following the news of the 2M alliance split between Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping earlier this year, some experts believe that with the collapse of the old alliance structure, the market will need a new integration period.
ONE may merge with Hapu-Lot
Lars Jessen, chief executive of Danish consultancy Vespucci Maritime, said at this year's largest container shipping conference TPM: "2M's dissolution is the first fallen domino, and it is predicted that the Ocean Alliance may also be dissolved as early as this year, while ONE may seek a merger with Germany's Hapag-Lloyd (the world's fifth largest liner company)."
Jensen said: "In my opinion, it is only a matter of time and will inevitably happen. "
After the merger of ONE and Hapag-Lloyd, its fleet size will be close to that of Dafei Shipping Company and will be further from the Alphaliner's top 100 liner companies.
Over the past decade, the market has proved Jessen's merger forecast is very sharp.
Jessen said that ONE and Hamburg's Hapraut have many similarities, which will make the merger easier. The merger activity is likely to occur in 2025 or 2026.
Returning to NYK's newly announced business plan, the overriding theme of this latest strategy is to seize the next four years of development opportunities to ensure that the company can achieve its 2050 decarbonization target.
Source: One Shipping