Hapag-Lloyd moves to rescue $4.2b ZIM buyout from fierce Israeli pushback

"The agreement will also prevent any foreign interference in the transportation of Israel's sensitive cargo, representing a significant improvement over the current arrangement," Habben Jansen said.

Chairman of the ZIM Workers' Committee, Oren Caspi, said he remained opposed to the proposed tie-up on the grounds that ZIM should not be handed over to "hostile parties".

Currently, up to 24 per cent of ZIM's shares can be sold to a single foreign investor without prior notice to Israel's government. Hapag-Lloyd has proposed reducing the threshold to 10 per cent to prevent foreign influence.

For its part, FIMI committed to not list ZIM Israel's shares for trading outside of Israel's stock market.

Hapag-Lloyd said the parties involved had agreed to strengthen shipping connections between Israel and Asia at the request of Israeli authorities.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Alexander Smith)