China Navigation acquires Indotrans service from Oldendorff

China Navigation acquires Indotrans service from Oldendorff    China Navigation Co. Ltd., the deep-sea shipping arm of the London-based John Swire & Sons Ltd., is acquiring the Southeast Asia/India/U.S. breakbulk/container service of Germany’s Oldendorff Carriers.
   Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
   The transaction will mark the exit of Oldendorff, a shipbuilder and shipowner of bulk vessels, from the liner shipping market. Oldendorff took over the multipurpose liner service of Hoegh Lines in 2001, and renamed it the Indotrans service.
   The sale of the operation to China Navigation also includes four 41,600-deadweight multipurpose vessels currently employed in the Indotrans service. The vessels will continue to operate between Indonesia, Singapore, India, Saudi Arabia, Canada, the U.S. East Coast and U.S. Gulf.
   China Navigation said the shipping line operating the service will be called Indotrans, and the first voyage under its control will commence on Dec. 28 in Freeport, Texas.
   Indotrans will maintain its representative offices in the U.S., India, Singapore and Indonesia. Geoff Cundle, managing director of China Navigation, said his company did not plan to change the port rotation of the service.
   “The sale of Indotrans concludes Oldendorff Carriers’ direct involvement in the management of liner trades,” said Henning Oldendorff, chairman of the German company. Oldendorff Carriers will continue to operate dry bulk and unitized cargo services, he added.
   In the U.S. liner trades, China Navigation also owns Polynesia Line, a U.S./South Pacific islands operator.