CEO of global shipping analysis consulting agency SeaIntelligence, Lars Jensen, one of the world's top container shipping analysts widely recognized by the industry, recently published a signed article on LinkedIn, pointing out that currently ranks eighth in the world, and has been ranked eighth in the past seven years. Yang Ming Shipping, which has accumulated losses of US$1 billion, has become the best merger and acquisition target in the industry!
Especially for Evergreen Shipping and Wanhai Shipping , which are both Taiwanese shipping companies!
Jensen made the following detailed analysis in the article and predicted that Taiwan government departments may intervene in this matter!
▲Lars Jensen’s signed article
Lars Jensen pointed out in the analysis report: Yang Ming Shipping’s cumulative losses during the seven-year period from 2012 to 2018 have reached US$1 billion!
"As the local government of Taiwan, which owns nearly half of the shares of this shipping company, it is obvious that it has realized the seriousness of the problem and it is time to consider this issue," Lars Jensen pointed out.
At the same time, Lars Jensen also pointed out that "the Taiwanese container ship company Evergreen Shipping, which is currently ranked 7th, and Wanhai Shipping, which is ranked 12th, have performed over a long period of time. With two other Taiwanese carriers performing significantly better over an extended period of time, what is the purpose of Taiwan's support for the third national shipping company (besides Evergreen and Wan Hai)? supporting a third national carrier?
Would Taiwanese government interests potentially be better served with two, stronger, national carriers rather than three?
And if there is still political will to provide direct or indirect subsidies for national reasons, would these subsidies perhaps create better results if concentrated on two carriers rather than spread on three?
---Three consecutive questions from the CEO of SeaIntelligence!
Last week, Yang Ming Shipping released its first quarter results for 2019. Although overall revenue increased by 13% and sales volume also increased by 5%, it still recorded a net loss of US$21.9 million!
Yang Ming Shipping claims that its losses are only due to rising oil prices!
Industry experts believe that although Yang Ming Shipping has publicly stated that it failed to achieve better performance due to rising oil prices, this explanation seems untenable if compared with , Hapag-Lloyd, , Evergreen and Wan Haiyi in the same period. Stop it!
Faced with the same oil price troubles, German container liner company Hapag-Lloyd achieved profitability in the first quarter of 2019. In addition, Hapag-Lloyd was profitable in 22 of the 28 quarters in the 2012-2018 fiscal year!
Also in the fiscal year 2012-2018, during the entire seven-year period, Yang Ming Shipping's cumulative losses totaled US$1 billion, while Hapag-Lloyd's cumulative surplus was US$1.2 billion. Hapag-Lloyd's margins are 1.7% and Yang Ming's margins are -3.4%
For further comparison, Evergreen Shipping's EBIT margins for the entire period 2012-2018 were 0.4%. Although the profit is not very optimistic, it is at least much better than Yang Ming Shipping!
In sharp contrast, Wan Hai, also a Taiwanese shipping company, had an EBIT profit margin of 4.7% during 2012-2018, and unlike any other operator in the world, their annual EBIT profit All are positive, which means that Wanhai has been profitable in the past seven years!
However, in the face of rumors about mergers and acquisitions in the industry, Yang Ming Shipping headquarters officials responded to European media that Yang Ming Shipping has not discussed a merger at present!
Over the past three years, Yang Ming Shipping has repeatedly denied outside merger speculation. A spokesman for
said first-quarter financial results were "better than expected." Yang Ming Shipping is full of hope for the future, and the company will deploy new environmentally friendly vessels to optimize its fleet and reduce operating costs.
