“Orphan carriers” excluded from the 2M Alliance and the proposed OCEAN Alliance are scheduled to brief the Federal Maritime Commission Wednesday.
Ocean carriers that are not a part of the recently announced OCEAN Alliance or the existing 2M Alliance are expected to make an announcement regarding a third major vessel sharing agreement this week.
FMC Commissioner William P. Doyle said he expected to meet with ocean carrier representatives of the new alliance today.
“It may not include all of the remaining eight carriers, but it could eventually,” he said. Doyle first revealed the news in remarks to members of the Intermodal Association of North America on May 5 in Chicago, but his office released the remarks Tuesday.
On April 20, CMA CGM, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen Line and Orient Overseas Container Line said they plan to form a new alliance called the OCEAN Alliance in April 2017. Since the proposed alliance incorporates both the merged China Shipping and COSCO, along with the combined CMA CGM and APL, it would pull together what had been six large carriers from three of the four major container alliances:
• CMA CGM and China Shipping from the Ocean3 Alliance;
• COSCO and Evergreen from the CKYHE Alliance;
• And APL and OOCL from the G6 Alliance.
That leaves eight carriers from those alliances that need to find new partners: UASC from the Ocean3 Alliance; “K” Line, Yang Ming, and Hanjin from the CKYHE Alliance; and Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai, MOL and NYK from the G6 Alliance.
Hapag-Lloyd recently announced it was having discussions about cooperation with UASC, which could even take the form of a merger.
Media reports have speculated that the eight carriers might come together to form a single super alliance or some smaller grouping might be established.
Announcement about new container carrier alliance imminent
