Hapag-Lloyd merger with Hamburg Sud called off

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And so another week on the rollercoaster ride of container shipping begins with the breaking news that the three-month long merger talks between German shipping lines Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg Sud have come to naught. A statement from Hapag-Lloyd’s majority owners, the Albert Ballin consortium, led by Kuehne + Nagel chairman Klaus-Michael Kuehne, said that the two companies had been unable to agree terms, and Hamburg-Sud owner, the Oetker family, had asked for negotiations to be abandoned. Will Hapag-Lloyd now embark on its trail towards an IPO?