After conducting an in-depth examination the Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of the marine cargo handling business of TTS Group ASA, Norway, by Cargotec Oyj (MacGregor), Finland.

The activities of the two companies overlap in the sale, repair and maintenance of ship cranes, hatch covers, winches and technical equipment for cruise liners and roll-on/roll-off ships.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "We had to clear the merger in spite of the parties' strong market positions. Demand for ship supplies on the relevant markets in Germany was not strong enough in the recent past to exceed the limit of what the German law calls “minor markets”. It was therefore not possible to prohibit the merger.”

According to the “minor market clause” of the German Competition Act (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen, GWB), a merger cannot be prohibited if the turnover achieved on the domestic market affected in the last calendar year was less than 15 million euros.

In order to build a new ship or series of ships, shipyards generally require all or most of the following components: ship cranes, hatch covers, winches as well as ramps, outer doors, stern and bow doors, mooring platforms etc. The shipyards negotiate prices and conditions with the ship suppliers. No larger merchant ships such as e.g. container ships or bulkers have been built in Germany for some time. Shipyards in Germany primarily build passenger ships such as e.g. cruise liners and ferries as well as yachts and naval vessels. Demand for the technical ship supplies described above is therefore weak.

Both parties are also active on the international after sales service market for ship cranes, i.e. they repair and maintain ship cranes. In addition to the ship crane manufacturers, a number of other independent service providers are available to the ship owners which are not tied to a specific manufacturer. The strong market position of the two companies ultimately did not per se justify a prohibition of the merger.

The proposed merger was cleared without conditions and obligations. The decision is not yet legally binding.