HAPAG-Lloyd has acquired NileDutch, a container shipping company that specialises in the African market.
With more than 40 years of expertise, NileDutch provides container services from and to western Africa.
The company is present in 85 locations across the world and has 16 own offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Singapore, China, Angola, Congo and Cameroon.
With 10 liner services, around 35,000 TEU of transport capacity and a container fleet of around 80,000 TEU, the company connects Europe, Asia and Latin America with western and southern Africa.
Headquartered in Rotterdam, NileDutch has some 350 employees worldwide.
Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said Africa is an important strategic growth market for his company.
“The acquisition of NileDutch strengthens our position in West Africa and will be an excellent addition to our existing activities on the continent,” he said.
“Our combined customer base will benefit from a denser network from and to Africa as well as from a much higher frequency of sailings. We welcome the new colleagues from NileDutch and hope that together we can further develop our business in Africa in the years to come.”
NileDutch president Wim van Aalst said Hapag-Lloyd and NileDutch are a good fit.
“Combining our business and expertise in West Africa with Hapag-Lloyd´s worldwide network will enable us to make the next step and further develop the Africa business,” he said.
The completion of the transaction is subject to the approval of the responsible antitrust authorities.
According to Alphaliner, NileDutch has a total container capacity of 34,124 TEU with 12 chartered ships. It is the 40th-largest container liner by capacity.
Hapag-Lloyd, on the other hand is the fifth-largest container liner by capacity with 1.737 million TEU and 243 ships, 39% of which are chartered.
