Page 11: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 1996)

October, 1996 103

December 31, 1996.

The union of these two shipping powerhouses will create a consoli- dated fleet, and will enable greater container volumes to be handled at lower costs. For exam- ple, from a total cost base of $3.9 million, savings in excess of $200 million have already been identi- fied, primarily through a 15 per- cent reduction in the combined workforce.

Other cost savings will come from greater network efficiency, improved IT systems and more efficient box utilization.

P&O Containers is the sixth largest container line in the world in terms of standing slots on fully containerized ships, operating 52 ships, with a capacity of 110,016

TEU. Nedlloyd Lines operates 60 owned and chartered container- ships, totaling 240,000 TEU.

P&O and Nedlloyd's throughputs for 1995 were 1,259,000 and 978,000 TEU, respectively.

A Concentration Of Power

By forging new alliances, the propulsion segment has also gener- ated more than its fair share of news lately.

In early July, Caterpillar announced an intended takeover of

Germany's Krupp MaK. More recently, the parent companies of

Wartsila Diesel (Metra) and New

Sulzer Diesel and Grand Motori (Fincantieri) announced the inten- tion to merge.

Metra Corp. and Fincantieri

Navali Italiani S.p.A. have tenta- tively agreed on joining the opera- tions of Metra-owned Wartsila

Diesel and Fincantieri-owned New

Sulzer Diesel and Diesel Ricerche, as well as Fincantieri's diesel engine division Grandi Motori.

The new company would be the largest in the field. The finaliza- tion of the agreement is expected by the end of 1996, as it is subject to the approval of relevent compet- itive authorities. "With the globalization of busi- ness, we're going to see more merg- ers. There is a trend towards fewer, but larger companies," said

Metra Corp. President and CEO

Georg Ehrnroot, at the recent

SMM exhibition. Also at SMM,

Peter Sulzer of New Sulzer

Diesel, stated, "I'm convinced the merger will help stabilize the mar- ket. There is a consolidation in the market. We are creating bigger, stronger and more reliable play- ers."

New Sulzer manufactures slow and medium-speed diesel engines, and has been owned jointly by

Fincantieri and Germany's Vulkan

Instrie Holding (VIH) GmbH. The majority of Sulzer engines are manufactured by licensees in major shipbuilding countries. In 1995, the group had net sales of $570 million, with an operating profit of $3.3 million.

Wartsila Diesel, Metra's largest division, had net sales of $1.5 bil- lion in 1995 and an operating prof- it of $89 million, contributing to the parent's net sales of $2.3 bil- lion.

Fincantieri's Grand Motori, with 1995 net sales of $285 million, manufactures medium speed GMT engines and diesels under New

Sulzer license.

Diesel Ricerche S.p.A. does R&D for New Sulzer and Grand Motori.

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