Beijing, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Hapag-Lloyd, a German company, announced on its official website that it has reached an agreement with Arab Shipping on a merger. After the merger, Hapag-Lloyd will acquire all the shares of Arab United Shipping.

It is understood that Arab Lines will hold a general meeting of shareholders in Dubai on June 29 local time. According to Hapag-Lloyd, the company's supervisory committee has voted to approve the relevant terms of the merger contract proposed in Hamburg.

Previously, Shipping reported that industry insiders said the merger would take place before Ramadan (Thursday, July 7, 2016, the fourth day of the sixth lunar month), and the management of both sides hoped to finalize a binding contract. This official statement will confirm what the industry insider said.

Shipping reported on May 17th that currently, Arab Ships has not been included in THE Alliance. THE reason is that it is in merger negotiations with Hapag-Lloyd. If everything goes smoothly, it is expected that THE Alliance will expand in the near future. According to the latest data from Alphaliner, Hapag-Lloyd currently operates 170 vessels, ranking sixth globally. UASC currently operates 56 vessels and ranks 11th globally. The merger will make it the fifth largest container liner shipping company in the world.

At around 8 p.m. Beijing time on April 21, 2016, two hours after the shipping Industry website exclusively released the article "News: Hapag-Lloyd May be in Talks with Arab Shipping for a Merger", the German liner company Hapag-Lloyd issued an official statement in response to the previous rumors of a "merger with Arab Shipping".

Hapag-lloyd released its operating results for 2015 on March 25th this year. Hapag-lloyd recorded a net profit of 114 million euros last year, reversing the situation of a loss of 604 million euros in the previous year. In 2015, the company's total revenue was 8.842 billion euros, with a total freight volume of 7.401 million TEUs, an average freight rate of 1,225 US dollars per TEUS, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased to 831 million euros, and EBITDA was 366.4 million euros. At that time, Hapag-Lloyd expressed full confidence in the performance of 2016.