Hapag-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) won approval for their merger from the European Commission, provided that UASC withdraws from North American and European liner services.
The transaction, which was announced in July, creates the fifth largest container shipping line in the world. The European Commission reviewed the two companies' market share on a variety of trade routes prior to signing off on the deal.
As a result of their joint membership in the NEU1 (ex-Pendulum) consortium, the EC had concerns that those routes "would have faced insufficient competitive constraint from rival companies," it said in a statement.
Hapag-Lloyd offered to withdraw UASC from that alliance as a condition on getting the merger approved.
UASC entered the North Atlantic trade in 2015 through a vessel sharing agreement with CMA CGM and Hamburg Sud. The service initially offered weekly capacity allocation of 3,300-teu.
