The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) has approved the formation of a proposed container shipping joint venture (JV) between three Japanese companies: Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line), Mitsui OSK Lines and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line).
The approval has confirmed that that proposed JV would not infringe upon the prohibition of anti-competitive mergers as outlined in Singapore’s Competition Act.
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All three companies will merge their container liner shipping business to create the JV, as well as their container terminal services businesses outside Japan.
Various services such as logistics, bulk shipping, car transport and others currently offered by the three companies and their respective subsidiaries will continue to operate as independent and separate entities.
CCS carried out a 14-day long public consultation last month, in order to gather feedback from vessel operating common carriers, non-vessel operating common carriers, and beneficial cargo owners to measure the impact of the JV.
The assessment examined the JV’s impact on the global supply of container liner shipping services for intra-Asia trade routes, in addition to trades involving the East Asia region.
CCS found that the JV is unlikely to increase the possibility of anti-competitive coordination given the large number of liners and low market concentration that would continue to exist post-JV.
NYK Line, Mitsui OSK Lines and K Line first announced their plan to form the container shipping JV in October.
