Global shipping industry bouncing back from worst-ever crisis

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) – The hulking container ships that transport sneakers, bananas and barbie dolls around the world keep getting bigger. So are the companies that own them.

A massive consolidation is underway in the US$500 billion global industry and the survivors now enjoy big economies of scale and increased demand, one year after excess capacity caused the sector’s worst-ever crisis – the bankruptcy of South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping.

Asia’s largest container line, China’s Cosco Shipping Holdings, last month said it would pay more than US$6 billion for rival Orient Overseas International, owner of the world’s biggest vessel – a carrier longer than the Empire State building. Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk is in the process of buying a German competitor and boasts its own fleet of mega ships, including one that can carry about 180 million iPads.