Singapore Approves Japanese Shipping Merger

The Competition Commission of Singapore has cleared the proposed joint venture between Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Line).
 
The companies plan to merge their container liner shipping business and their container terminal services businesses outside Japan. The only overlapping service that would affect Singapore is the provision of container liner shipping services. 

The Commission looked at shipping services for intra-Asia trade routes, and for trades involving the East Asia region (which includes Singapore), as both origin and destination with various other regions around the world such as Europe and North America.

The Japanese “3J” joint venture, to be owned 38 percent by NYK and 31 percent each by MOL and K-Line, is expected to begin operations in April 2018. The companies expect to see an annual cost benefits of about 110 billion yen ($1.05 billion) with a combined fleet of 1.4 million TEUs.

The merger is anticipated to include 10 overseas terminals, mainly located in the U.S.