Financial News

Hapag-Lloyd acquires container liner business of Africa specialist Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL)

- Deal completed between the parties after approval by worldwide antitrust authorities

- Acquisition supports Hapag-Lloyd’s strategy to further grow in the South African market

Hapag-Lloyd today successfully closed the acquisition of the container liner business of German carrier Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL), after having signed the framework agreement in March 2022. In advance, the transaction had been approved by all responsible antitrust authorities.

“We are very pleased with the closing of the transaction and looking forward to welcoming the DAL colleagues,” says Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd. “With their broad experience and market knowledge, they will significantly support us to further grow in Africa, which remains an important strategic market for us. We will now fully integrate the DAL’s container liner activities into our business.” Particularly for the service offering from and to South Africa, DAL is a valuable addition, allowing Hapag-Lloyd to offer their customers a better network and additional port coverage in this region.

With its long history, DAL is an established liner shipping company for the transportation of containerised cargo and operates with four liner services between Europe, South Africa and the Indian Ocean. Headquartered in Hamburg, the Africa expert is represented with own offices in Germany and South Africa as well as through third-party agents in 47 countries worldwide. Their liner business (including agencies) employs more than 150 people. DAL owns a 6,589 TEU container ship and operates a container fleet of around 17,800 boxes (owned and leased), which will be taken over as part of the acquisition.

The integration will be moving at a swift pace, and full commercial integration is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022.

In 2021, Hapag-Lloyd had acquired Africa-specialised carrier NileDutch, which significantly strengthened the carrier's presence and service offering to and from West Africa. This growth-oriented strategy was also underlined by several new office openings in Africa in 2021 and 2020.

About Hapag-Lloyd
With a fleet of 248 modern container ships and a total transport capacity of 1.8 million TEU, Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies. The Company has around 14,000 employees and 418 offices in 137 countries. Hapag-Lloyd has a container capacity of approximately 3.0 million TEU – including one of the largest and most modern fleets of reefer containers. A total of 123 liner services worldwide ensure fast and reliable connections between more than 600 ports on all the continents. Hapag-Lloyd is one of the leading operators in the Transatlantic, Middle East, Latin America and Intra-America trades.

Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such statements are based on a number of assumptions, estimates, projections or plans that are inherently subject to significant risks, uncertainties and contingencies. Actual results can differ materially from those anticipated in the Company’s forward-looking statements.