MAERSK SEALAND AND NEW WORLD ALLIANCE TO COOPERATE IN ATLANTIC

MAERSK SEALAND AND NEW WORLD ALLIANCE TO COOPERATE IN ATLANTIC

MAERSK SEALAND AND NEW WORLD ALLIANCE TO COOPERATE IN
ATLANTIC

   Maersk Sealand and New World Alliance carriers APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines have announced a far-reaching cooperation deal to merge their services in the Atlantic trade.

   The announcement of the alliance follows weeks of negotiation between all the major carrier groups in the transatlantic, triggered primarily by the decision of P&O Nedlloyd and OOCL to end their long-standing vessel-sharing agreement with Maersk Sealand.

   The Maersk Sealand/New World Alliance planned cooperation agreement will become effective in the fourth quarter. By the end of the year, Hyundai will stop cooperating with its previous Atlantic partner — Mediterranean Shipping Co. Also by the end of the year, APL and MOL will terminate their space-sharing agreement with Lykes Lines on three weekly Atlantic loops.

   The new agreement will align the transatlantic services of all three New World Alliance lines.

   Maersk Sealand, APL, MOL and Hyundai will exchange space on a total of three weekly transatlantic services.

   APL, MOL and Hyundai will extend their current Asia/U.S. East Coast “ECS” service across the Atlantic, providing one of the three weekly services.

   Maersk Sealand, which    currently runs three weekly transatlantic services — the “North Atlantic String”, “South Atlantic String” and the “TA3/TP3” Asia/U.S./Europe pendulum service — will end the “North Atlantic String” and continue to run the other two loops.

   Maersk Sealand’s transatlantic vessel-sharing agreement with P&O Nedlloyd and OOCL expires in early July.

   The VSA’s “North Atlantic String” that will be withdrawn utilizes four relatively slow 4,614-TEU Econships built in the mid-1980’s.

   Maersk Sealand said that the replacement North Atlantic service provided in cooperation with the New World Alliance would have faster transit times than the current VSA loop.

   The agreement between Maersk Sealand and the New World Alliance is subject to regulatory approvals in Washington and Brussels.

   Full details of the joint services have yet to be completed. It is expected that the four transatlantic carriers will start cooperating on a limited scale during an interim period leading to full implementation of the services at the end of the year.

   “The combined services in the trans-Atlantic trade of Maersk Sealand and the New World Alliance will not increase the overall capacity,” APL, MOL and Hyundai said in a joint statement.

   Lykes Lines and Mediterranean Shipping Co. have not yet announced how the withdrawal of APL, MOL and Hyundai would affect their services.