Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Lines) will be joining forces with a new name from April 2018 onwards. This had not been thought possible by veteran drivers in maritime navigation. Too strong were the traditional differences of the more than 100 years old conglomerates, to which the shipping companies belong, too deep the ditches, which they separated.

The Japanese shipping companies have combined the hardship and naked fear of an eight-year crisis in shipping. They have accumulated huge losses and since the end of August the fate of their Korean competitor Hanjin in mind: the final bankruptcy. Although Hanjin still rescue efforts, but as a global shipping company, the Koreans are out of the game. After the experience with the Hanjin bankruptcy, no one will entrust a container to a shaky shipping company. Tens of thousands of containers arrived late, had to be expensive at the terminals, or were ultimately worthless because they contained seasonal goods. The damage to customers, banks, insurance companies and suppliers are not yet visible.

Eight years of crisis have driven global shipping on a strict course: saving, merging, buying. The Chinese shipping lines Cosco and China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) have already been merged, the French shipping company CMA CGM has taken APL from Singapore, and the Hamburg shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has only incorporated the container part of the Chilean CSAV and then the Arab UASC. The takeover process should be completed before Christmas.

"Do not have too many shipping companies, but too many ships"

After the merger, the Japanese would be ranked sixth among the large container shipping companies, almost on par with Hapag-Lloyd and Cosco. The "big three" - the Danish market leader Maersk, the Swiss MSC and the CMA CGM from France - are some of the favorites. Hapag-Lloyd welcomes this development. "The consolidation in shipping continues, which is necessary and helps the industry to recover and grow sustainably," said Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habbenjansen to the "Hamburger Abendblatt".

The freight rates, which have been in the basement for years due to the overcapacities in shipping and the weak growth of the world trade, have not yet stabilized through the merger. "We do not have too many shipping companies, but too many ships," says the Hamburg shipping experts Prof. Ulrich Malchow. "The insolvency of Hanjin has only brought a temporary recovery, as the available ship capacity was abruptly reduced by about five per cent." In the medium term, however, the ships returned to the market much more favorably from exploitation The situation even worse.

After the merger in Japan, there are still two countries in the world where more than one large shipping company is based: Taiwan and Germany. The Taiwanese companies Evergreen, Yang Ming and Wan Hai are considered hot favorites for the next concentration round. In Germany Hapag-Lloyd has done his homework and at least kept the connection to the world's top. Is that enough? "It is quite possible that, similar to the branch of the global package services, only the present big three will remain in the end," says Malchow, who taught "Maritime Economics" at the Bremen University of Applied Sciences. The company from the Oetker Group is regarded as too small to survive on its own, and is also highly specialized in South American traffic. Because of the notorious silence of the Oetker clan about the economic condition of the shipping company is not known with around six billion euro turnover and 6000 employees. The latest statements are from April this year. There was talk of "high pressure".

The future of Hamburg Süd is a popular topic in coastal gossip. After all, market leader Maersk is looking for opportunities. The Danes have lost more than 100 million dollars in container shipping in the third quarter, but want to do without profit on market shares. For Maersk CEO Sören Skou, the consolidation phase of the industry means that the Group can only retain the advantages of its position as a market leader if it continues to grow - even through acquisitions.