GERMAN shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd's 'Strategy 2023' is betting that the shipping sector's mergers and acquisitions blitz is over and quality - not size - will be the company's immediate focus.
'We don't expect any big mergers so we believe we have to differentiate ourselves on quality,' Hapag-Lloyd spokesman Nils Haupt told Colchester's Seatrade Maritime News.
Hapag-Lloyd is also preparing for January 2020, when the UN's International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) low-sulphur rules apply.
Most of Hapag Lloyd's fleet will use compliant fuel; ten 13,000-TEU ships are being retrofitted with scrubbers, said the company.
'The liner shipping industry has changed significantly. It is at a turning point. Hapag-Lloyd, which merged with UASC in 2017, and prior to that with CSAV, is itself more than twice as large as it was five years ago, in terms of capacity.' said a company newsletter.
The company's five-year plan comes with three key targets - quality, profitability and selective global growth, said the statement.
Hapag-Lloyd is developing 12 criteria 'where customers will be able to clearly see and measure our quality and how it is developing', he said.
'We are currently working on the clearly defined 12 quality criteria - we will make the first of them public very soon and are confident we will have all 12 in place by mid or end 2020,' said Mr Haupt.
'A lot of IT planning and resources are involved in this - we are putting a lot of staff and investment in to really prepare. We will be leading in the industry in this area,' he said.
LNG is another option. Hapag-Lloyd is to spend US$25 million retrofitting the 15,000-TEU Sajir to operate with LNG; the conversion, to be carried out at the Huarun Dadong Dockyard in Shanghai, will enable the engine system to function with either LNG or low-sulphur fuel oil. The vessel is expected to enter service in 2020 or 2021.
WORLD SHIPPING
'We don't expect any big mergers so we believe we have to differentiate ourselves on quality,' Hapag-Lloyd spokesman Nils Haupt told Colchester's Seatrade Maritime News.
Hapag-Lloyd is also preparing for January 2020, when the UN's International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) low-sulphur rules apply.
Most of Hapag Lloyd's fleet will use compliant fuel; ten 13,000-TEU ships are being retrofitted with scrubbers, said the company.
'The liner shipping industry has changed significantly. It is at a turning point. Hapag-Lloyd, which merged with UASC in 2017, and prior to that with CSAV, is itself more than twice as large as it was five years ago, in terms of capacity.' said a company newsletter.
The company's five-year plan comes with three key targets - quality, profitability and selective global growth, said the statement.
Hapag-Lloyd is developing 12 criteria 'where customers will be able to clearly see and measure our quality and how it is developing', he said.
'We are currently working on the clearly defined 12 quality criteria - we will make the first of them public very soon and are confident we will have all 12 in place by mid or end 2020,' said Mr Haupt.
'A lot of IT planning and resources are involved in this - we are putting a lot of staff and investment in to really prepare. We will be leading in the industry in this area,' he said.
LNG is another option. Hapag-Lloyd is to spend US$25 million retrofitting the 15,000-TEU Sajir to operate with LNG; the conversion, to be carried out at the Huarun Dadong Dockyard in Shanghai, will enable the engine system to function with either LNG or low-sulphur fuel oil. The vessel is expected to enter service in 2020 or 2021.
WORLD SHIPPING