Hapag-Lloyd to acquire container biz of Africa specialist DAL

German carrier Hapag-Lloyd has signed an agreement to acquire the container liner business from German carrier Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL).

"With a history dating back to 1890, 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," says a statement issued by Hapag-Lloyd.

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. Their liner business (including agencies) employs more than 150 people.

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, the statement added.

"Africa remains an important strategic growth market," says Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO, Hapag-Lloyd. "Particularly for our service offering from and to South Africa, DAL is a valuable addition allowing us to offer our customers a better network and additional port coverage in this region. We are very much looking forward to welcoming the DAL colleagues. With their broad experience and market knowledge, they will significantly support us to further grow in Africa."

Last year, Hapag-Lloyd had 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 new office openings in Kenya, Morocco and Senegal in 2021 and the establishment of a Quality Service Centre (QSC) in Mauritius in 2020," the statement added.