CP BUYS OUT TMM IN AMERICANA SHIPS VENTURE

   Canadian Pacific Ltd., the parent company of CP Ships, is buying the 50-percent share of the Americana Ships joint venture it did not already own from Transportacion Maritima Mexicana.
   For Mexico-based TMM, the sale represents a complete withdrawal from a container shipping industry that is rapidly consolidating among major players.
   The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
   Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., Americana Ships was formed by CP Ships and TMM in January 1999 as a 50/50 venture which took over the liner activities of several shipping lines owned by the two partners.
   The acquisition of sole control over Americana Ships is the latest in a series of big investment decisions in container shipping by the fast-growing CP Ships group. A $1-billion business, Americana Ships runs the liner services of Lykes Lines, TMM Lines and Transportacion Maritima Grancolombiana (TMG) and the transatlantic service of Contship Containerlines. Americana Ships has a combined traffic volume of about one million TEUs.
   As part of the purchase, CP Ships will acquire the trade names TMM Lines and TMG, as well as a container fleet of 27,000 TEUs.
   The purchase does not include Compania Trasatlantica Espanola, the Spanish shipping line majority-owned by TMM, as this unit will be sold by TMM to minority shareholder Naviera del Odiel.
   TMM, a listed company that currently loses money, said that it has now decided to "narrow its strategic focus to concentrate on its other activities." TMM’s diversified business includes rail, intermodal transportation, logistics and bulk shipping.
   The two companies said that completion of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected early in the new year.
In addition to Americana Ships, the CP Ships group includes Canada Maritime, Cast, Contship Containerlines, Australia-New Zealand Direct Line and Montreal Terminals.
   The sale of TMM’s stake in liner shipping is the second recent withdrawal from the international container shipping industry by a major listed transportation group. CSX Corp. completed its sale of Sea-Land’s international business on Dec. 10.