A $23bn sale of ports by CK Hutchison has raised concerns in the logistics industry that the deal could hurt competition and disadvantage rivals by making the world’s biggest shipping company the top operator of container terminals globally.
The deal to sell 80 per cent of the Hong Kong conglomerate’s global ports portfolio to a subsidiary of the Mediterranean Shipping Company would hand the Swiss-Italian shipping line control over a critical amount of the world’s port infrastructure, some industry analysts and executives fear.
The impact of the sale is “massive”, said one port industry executive, with the proposed MSC agreement raising “significant concerns” among rival shipping lines about their long-term access to port infrastructure.