Germany’s largest ocean carrier, Hapag-Lloyd, last May completed its merger with United Arab Shipping Co. (UASC), a Kuwait-based carrier owned by a conglomerate of wealthy Middle Eastern states. The two majority shareholders of UASC – Qatar Investment Authority, through its subsidiary Qatar Holding LLC and the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (PIF) – will become new key shareholders of Hapag-Lloyd. The combined fleets of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC will include 230 vessels with a shared capacity of approximately 1.6 million TEUs. Hapag-Lloyd said it expects to achieve synergies of $435 million annually as a result of the merger. A significant amount of these savings should be realized in 2018, while the full amount is expected to first be reached in 2019.

Source: hapag-lloyd.com