The European Commission (EC) has approved COSCO Shipping’s purchase of Orient Overseas Container Lines’ (OOCL) parent company, Orient Overseas International Ltd (OOIL), without conditions, it is learnt.
Although the deal would have “very significant” effects on the Northern Europe to North America trade routes, the EC concluded it led to no anti-trust concerns due to the “presence of significant competitors post-merger” and the lack of existing competition between COSCO and OOCL.
It said the transaction would affect eight trade routes, among them being both legs of the Northern Europe to North America, Northern Europe to the Far East, Mediterranean to the Middle East and Mediterranean to the Far East trade routes
