Hapag-Lloyd announced that it closed the acquisition of the container liner business of German carrier Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL), after having signed the framework agreement in March 2022 as part of its ongoing efforts to further expand in the South African market.
The shipping line noted that 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," said 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," Jansen added, noting that Hapag will now fully integrate the DAL's container liner activities into its business.
Hapag Lloyd said in a statement that 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.
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 its own offices in Germany and South Africa as well as through third-party agents in 47 countries worldwide.
Hapag said their liner business (including agencies) employs more than 150 people and 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.
Full commercial integration by Q4 2022
"The integration will be moving at a swift pace, and full commercial integration is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022," Hapag Lloyd added.
In 2021, the German shipping giant 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.
