The sudden wave of feeder consolidation continues in the box sector with news that Dubai-based Admiral Shipping and Admiral Feeders have been snapped up by a group of unidentified European financial investors.
Admiral’s purchase follows hot on the heels of Bengal Tiger Lines (BTL) also being sold to a group of unidentified European financial investors and terminal operator DP World’s surprise pounce for Denmark’s Unifeeder. Splash has been unable to identify whether the buyers of Admiral are the same as BTL.
Admiral was founded in 2010 with a 110 teu ship which operated shuttle services from Jebel Ali port to a number of Middle Eastern ports. It has since grown, and today charters in nine ships which operate in the Gulf and the Red Sea. Admiral has an annual volume of around 300,000 teu according to Alphaliner.
No details on the price for the Admiral acquisition have been revealed.
Commenting on the news, Andy Lane from CTI Consultancy, told Splash: “Feeder operators, with minimal assets – mainly chartered, high T/C costs moving forwards, potentially high fuel costs and extreme revenue pressure from their customers, the deepsea operators, are not ingredients immediately associated with high profitability. It is then maybe a little odd that entities from seemingly outside of the industry, who may not reap many synergies, would be excited to acquire feeder operators, unless at a ridiculously low price.”
