Mergers, alliances and competition law

Anthony Woolich and Jeremy Kelly, of Holman Fenwick Willan, take a look at the legal considerations as competition hots up in the container shipping market

The container shipping market is currently undergoing a major restructuring as container lines battle to maintain profitability against a number of problems, market over-capacity chief among them. This year has already seen the completion of the merger between Cosco and CSCL, the approval of CMA CGM’s takeover of NOL by the European Commission, as well as an announcement that UASC and Hapag-Lloyd are discussing a potential merger.