Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Japanese shipping container conglomerate buys CAI International for $1.1 billion

Mitsubishi HC Capital now leases out 3.3 million TEUs of containers as maritime industry struggles with shortage of available units.

containers-CAI-Screen-Shot-2021-06-18-at-12.27.32-PM.png

Container leasing company CAI International Inc. has been acquired for $1.1 billion by Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc. (MHC) in a move that creates a global powerhouse in the sector at a time when shipping containers are in short supply, the companies said today.

MHC itself is a new name in the logistics sector, having been formed in April through the merger of Mitsubishi UFJ Lease and Finance Ltd. and Hitachi Capital Corp., resulting in a combined company with total assets of $89 billion that stands as the second largest leasing company in Japan.


Despite its young age, MHC has ambitious plans for growth, since it already owns the sector’s 6th largest container leaser, Beacon Intermodal Leasing LLC (BIL) and its 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of shipping containers. It will now add CAI’s global fleet of 1.8 million TEUs to that stable, as well as its 13 offices located in 12 countries.

The merger comes at a time when container shortages and high shipping rates are disrupting typical maritime import and export patterns. That pressure has been exerted by a combination of pandemic economic shutdowns and rebounds, the traffic jam in the Suez Canal, and most recently, the partial closure of China’s Yantian port by another Covid-19 outbreak.

MHC also pointed to those business conditions, saying its rationale for making the transaction was a forecast of stable demand for marine container leasing for years to come.

"Marine transportation is strongly tied between key infrastructure for livelihood and industry activities, indicating that containers used for marine transportation are expected to benefit from stable demands in the leasing market,” MHC said in a release. “Furthermore, as the demands for marine containers has been on the rise along with increasing cargo volumes associated with the expanding stay-at-home demand under the Covid-19 pandemic, such circumstances have led to a shortage of containers. The marine container leasing business is expected to bring stable growth as an indispensable infrastructure of global trade, and is envisioned to be a leading force of the logistic business domain in the future.”

The transaction is expected to close in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. Once the deal is complete, MHC expects to retain CAI’s existing management team and employees, and to keep its headquarters in San Francisco.

The acquisition follows CAI’s efforts to make corporate changes to return its focus to its core container leasing business, CAI President and CEO Timothy Page said in a release. In 2020, CAI International sold CAI Logistics, its non-asset logistics division, to third-party logistics (3PL) services provider NFI.

“This merger is the culmination of discussions that started in Fall of 2019,” David Remington, chairman of CAI’s board of directors, said in a release. “During those discussions we have been most impressed by the vision of MHC, a vision shared by Hiromitsu Ogawa, who founded CAI over 30 years ago. Mr. Ogawa built a world class container leasing company by focusing on delivering value to customers and we are pleased that this vision will endure. We believe our shipping line customers and manufacturing partners will most certainly benefit from the scale and financial strength of the merged company.”

The Latest

More Stories

ITS Logistics truck carrying Sherwin Williams products
ITS Logistics

Transportation challenges, solved

Sometimes, all you need is the right partner to solve your logistics problems.

In 2021, global paint supplier Sherwin Williams faced driver and hazardous material (hazmat) capacity constraints: There simply weren’t enough hazmat drivers available in its fleet to maintain the company’s 90% fleet utilization rate expectations for key partner store deliveries while also meeting growing demand for service. Those challenges threatened to become even more acute in the future, as a competing paint supply company began to scale back its operations in the Pacific Northwest, leaving Sherwin Williams with an opportunity to fill the gap.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

drone flying through warehouse

Robotic revolution

Robots are revolutionizing factories, warehouses, and distribution centers (DCs) around the world, thanks largely to heavy investments in the technology between 2019 and 2021. And although investment has slowed since then, the long-term outlook calls for steady growth over the next four years. According to data from research and consulting firm Interact Analysis, revenues from shipments of industrial robots are forecast to grow nearly 4% per year, on average, between 2024 and 2028 (see Exhibit 1).

market forecast for industrial robots - revenues graphEXHIBIT 1: Market forecast for industrial robots - revenuesInteract Analysis

Keep ReadingShow less
Freight Science dashboard screen
Freight Science

High-tech solution helps truckload carrier drive change

The trucking industry faces a range of challenges these days, particularly when it comes to load planning—a resource-intensive task that often results in suboptimal decisions, unnecessary empty miles, late deliveries, and inefficient asset utilization. What’s more, delays in decision-making due to a lack of real-time insights can hinder operational efficiency, making cost management a constant struggle.

Truckload carrier Paper Transport Inc. (PTI) experienced this firsthand when the company sought to expand its over the-road (OTR), intermodal, and brokerage offerings to include dedicated fleet services for high-volume shippers—adding a layer of complexity to the business. The additional personnel required for such a move would be extremely costly, leading PTI to investigate technology solutions that could help close the gap.

Keep ReadingShow less
indigo software screenshot WMS

Aptean adds British WMS vendor in latest acquisition

The Georgia-based enterprise software vendor Aptean today said it had acquired Indigo Software Ltd., a British provider of purpose-built warehouse management and logistics software solutions.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Aptean said the move will add new capabilities to its warehouse management and supply chain management offerings for manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and 3PLs. Aptean currently provides enterprise resource planning (ERP), transportation management systems (TMS), and product lifecycle management (PLM) platforms.

Keep ReadingShow less
schneider app screenshot for owner operators

Schneider seeks more business with owner-operators

Transportation and logistics service provider Schneider National Inc. is reaching out to owner-operators, encouraging them to do more business with the Wisconsin company using an updated digital platform.

Schneider says its FreightPower platform now offers owner-operators significantly more access to Schneider’s range of freight options. That can help drivers to generate revenue and strengthen their business through: increased access to freight, high drop and hook rates of over 95% of loads, and a trip planning feature that calculates road miles.

Keep ReadingShow less