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Hapag-Lloyd and Zim have over 400 vessels and 18 million TEUs in annual volumes. Daniel Wright98 / Shutterstock. com

Hapag-Lloyd’ s purchase of Zim to deepen shipping oligopoly

By Greg Knowler and Mark Szakonyi

There’ s one less medium-sized container line left to acquire after Hapag-Lloyd inked a deal Feb. 16 to purchase Zim Integrated Shipping Services. Nine years after COSCO announced plans to take a controlling stake in OOCL, the march toward consolidation advances.

The number of major east-west ocean carriers has shrunk from 20 to 10 in 25 years leaves the top carriers’ control most of the market and medium-sized carriers fighting for economies of scale. The $ 4.2 billion acquisition, pending regulatory approval, solidifies the Hamburg-based carrier’ s ranking as the fifth-largest by capacity, and stands to significantly improve the Hamburg-based carrier’ s position on several major trade lanes. Hapag-Lloyd expects the transaction to be completed by the end of the year.

“ When we look for a minute at the trade portfolios on the Atlantic and trans-Pacific, if we joined forces, we would really get into very strong position,” Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said during a media briefing on Feb. 16.

The takeover will grow Hapag-Lloyd’ s volume share on the trans-Atlantic from 24 % to 27 %, on the trans-Pacific from 7 % to 12 %, in Asia from 9 % to 11 %, on Asia-Latin America from 11 % to 14 %, and from 2 % to 7 % on the intra-Europe trade, according to data from Container Trades Statistics cited by Hapag-Lloyd.

A 27 % market share on the trans-Atlantic would put Hapag-Lloyd in second place behind Mediterranean Shipping Co.( MSC) at 29 %, according to the CTS figures cited by Hapag-Lloyd.

According to PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global, Hapag-Lloyd had a market share of 19.6 % on the trans-Atlantic in January, behind MSC’ s 22.6 %. But Hapag-Lloyd held the top position throughout the fourth quarter of 2025 with a share that exceeded 25 % in October and December.

“ If we joined forces, we would really get into very strong position.”

On the trans-Pacific, adding Zim would put Hapag- Lloyd level with Ocean Network Express( ONE) in third, behind MSC at 13 %, according to CTS. Hapag-Lloyd will also inherit Zim’ s slot-sharing agreement with ONE.

Habben Jansen said the Asia-Latin America trade has long been a corridor he has wanted to expand. In 2023, Hapag-Lloyd strengthened its position with the acquisition of SM SAAM terminal business while growing dedicated service networks on the trade lane.

“ Zim has done really well on Asia-Latin America in the last couple of years, and this would allow us to get closer to

32 Journal of Commerce | March 2, 2026 www. joc. com