EXECUTIVE BOARD

Announcement

To: All staff members of Hamburg Süd and of Aliança

From: Hamburg Süd Board

November 13, 2008

Dear colleagues,

The turbulences on the financial markets that started with the sub-prime crisis in the
U.S. will have a severe impact on worldwide production, consumption and trade. The
world bank announced yesterday that the worldwide economic growth is expected to
be less than 1% in 2009. Most countries will turn into a recession and it is yet unclear
how deep and how long the economic down turn will be.

Since summer break the economic crisis has reached international shipping:

Bulk markets have collapsed. A panmax bulk carrier that earned more than
60.000 US$ per day on a voyage six months ago can now be chartered for
less than 10.000 US$.

Container markets have likewise seen huge drops in volumes and rates in
recent months. The backbone trade of international container shipping
between Asia and Europe saw freight rates plummeting by approximately
1,000 US$/TEU from 1,800 US$/TEU one year ago to currently about
800 US$/TEU (all in).

Whilst no orders for container ships have been placed at ship yards for several
months now, the world container ship fleet is expected to increase by 15 %
next year and by another 14% in 2010 as these ships were contracted long
time ago. This means that next year every month 160.000 TEU of additional
slot capacity will be commissioned, equalling two weekly services between
Asia and Europe. Most of the new tonnage will be in the post panmax
segment. Not all of the new-buildings will be deployed in the East-West trades.
Temporary lay-ups are likely to occur. Some of these ships will replace smaller
vessels in the 2,500 to 5,500 TEU class that will have to find a new home in
other trades like those covered by Hamburg Süd (“cascading effect”).
What does this mean for Hamburg Süd?

Results of our liner services were hard hit this year by the steep increase in
bunker prices and will come in short of budget.

Results of the dry bulk and product tanker activities developed nicely on the
back of the booming markets, yet as explained above, these times are over.

The volume and rate targets for the year 2009 were submitted by the regions
to the Board in September when nobody expected the crisis to be as severe
as we now have to assume it will be.

The Board has therefore asked regional trade managements to come up with
updated commercial budgets for 2009 which will be discussed in early
December in Hamburg. Regions are also requested to come forward with
action plans how to reduce operational and logistical expenses.

The personnel plan as submitted by the regions and the corporate head
offices in Hamburg and Sao Paulo was not approved by the Board. Based on
the volume increase that was budgeted in September and is now deemed to
be too optimistic, the personnel plan would have resulted in a drop of the
overall productivity of the organisation. This is not acceptable. We have there-
fore asked all regional and head office managers to re-work their personnel
plans. We have also announced a hire freeze with immediate effect. The
Board will consider and approve exceptions on a case by case basis and only
if such replacements cannot be avoided without putting our business or
important projects at risk. These measures are absolutely necessary and they
are a reflection of the difficult times ahead. Other shipping lines have already
announced lay-offs in various parts of their organisation. This is clearly not on
our agenda at this time.

We are aware of the fact that the organisation is challenged by several IT pro-
jects requiring an increasing contribution by the users. Recent modifications to
our current systems have put a strain on various offices as the roll out could
not be arranged seamlessly. Preparations for Globe testing and training will
require additional resources. The Board will consider each of the applications
on a case by case basis, yet in total we have to keep our workforce in line with
our business growth.

Hamburg Süd and Aliança will cope with the upcoming crisis. We are steadily
increasing our owned share in vessels and containers. We will be able to
redeliver a substantial number of charter ships in the next 12 months, thus
reducing our charter payments significantly. We have a dedicated and
experienced organisation that absorbed the steep volume increase of recent
years without losing any profitable business.

We have to be creative and proactive adjusting our service network rapidly to
the changes in international markets. We must turn around loss making
activities or otherwise shut them down. We have to hold on to our revenue
streams, we must further improve equipment balancing and reduce operati-
onal cost and we have to at least maintain the productivity level of our
organisation.

We are sending this message to you today to make you fully aware of the situation.
We will have very difficult times ahead of us. Whether the crisis will last 12 or 18
months or even longer, nobody knows. We have a very solid base, first and foremost
we count on all of you.