Hapag-Lloyd has announced the acquisition of all shares in the Dutch container shipping company Nile Dutch Investments B.V. (NileDutch).

The German carrier and NileDutch have inked a sale and purchase agreement for the share transaction, the completion of which is subject to the approval of the responsible antitrust authorities.

NileDutch is specialised in the West Africa container services and presents a container fleet of approximately 80,000TEU, while it provides 10 liner services and around 35,000TEU of transport capacity, connecting Europe, Asia and Latina America with West and South Africa. The Rotterdam-headquartered company is present in 85 locations and owns 16 offices across the world, while it has some 350 employees worldwide.

“The acquisition of NileDutch strengthens our position in West Africa and will be an excellent addition to our existing activities on the continent. Our combined customer base will benefit from a denser network from and to Africa as well as from a much higher frequency of sailings,” commented Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.

Wim van Aalst, president of NileDutch, said, “Combining our business and expertise in West Africa with Hapag-Lloyd´s worldwide network will enable us to make the next step and further develop the Africa business.”