A few days ago, Maersk CEO Shi Soren said in an interview with the media that the further integration of the container shipping market seems to be full of crises, and there may be five to six large container shipping companies left in the world. In an interview with the Financial Times, Shi Soren revealed: “In the past two years, in the container ship sector, amidst the momentum of consolidation, 8 of the top 20 large shipping companies have been acquired or will still face bankruptcy. Within the year, large shipping companies will further integrate. " 　　The bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping was the worst disaster in the entire container sector in the past 30 years. American President Lines), COSCO and China Shipping merged. 　　Leaving aside the fact that excess shipping capacity in the container sector has driven down freight rates and caused many shipping companies to face financial difficulties, Shi Soren said that the consolidation of container shipping companies is also driven by "government withdrawal from supporting the container sector" such as those in the Middle East, Singapore, and South Korea. . 　　Maersk Line, the world's largest container shipping company under the Maersk Group, announced on December 1, 2016 that it plans to acquire the German container shipping company Hamburg Süd. The Oetker Group, the parent company of Hamburg Süd, has entered into a sale and purchase agreement. According to the agreement, Maersk Line will acquire Hamburg Süd at a price of 3.7 billion euros. Maersk Line will use cash for the acquisition, and the relevant funds will be obtained through syndicated loans. The acquisition is currently in progress.

The support of the fleet of container shipping companies is driven by the demand for further market equilibrium, aiming to restore the sustainable economic recovery of shipping companies and narrow the gap between the supply and demand of ship tonnage.

　　According to rating agency Fitch, once the world's largest five container giants consolidate their market positions through mergers or acquisitions, their market share is likely to rise from 45% in 2016 to 57% in 2018.

　　As Fitch highlighted earlier this year, mergers and acquisitions are the first of its kind for alliances because “they are the one channel with the greatest potential to restore the balance between supply and demand in the container shipping industry.” Acquisitions

　　* The progress is that on July 9 this year, COSCO SHIPPING Holdings and SIPG, a listed company under COSCO SHIPPING Group, announced that they would issue purchase orders to all shareholders of Orient Overseas International, a company listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the seventh largest container shipping company in the world. A cash tender offer for the outstanding shares of the target company it holds. The tender offer is a conditional voluntary general cash tender offer with a total purchase price of US$6.3 billion.