Hapag-Lloyd to let go of more than 1,300 staff

Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd has confirmed reports that 12% of its 11,000 land-based staff will be made redundant in the wake of the merger with Middle Eastern boxline UASC.

The job cuts will be made over the next 18 to 24 months.

The two lines coming together makes them the fifth largest liner in the world with a fleet in excess of 1.5m teu.

At its most recent quarterly results briefing last month, Rolf Habben Jansen, the CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, said the merger with UASC would generate annual savings of $435m from 2019 onwards, with a large proportion of this already to be achieved in 2018.

“After the closing our priority will be to integrate UASC into Hapag-Lloyd quickly and to realise initial synergies from the merger,” Habben Jansen said.

Another line from the same German city will be looking on with concern. A number of Hamburg Sud workers have protested in recent months the takeover by Maersk Line, fearful that they too will lose their jobs.