CP Ships gets Pacific slots on Maersk vessels

CP Ships gets Pacific slots on Maersk vessels

   CP Ships-owned Lykes Lines and TMM Lines will broaden their transpacific U.S. West Coast services by exchanging slots with Maersk Sealand.

   The deal appears to provide a big break to CP Ships in the transpacific market, where its services are much more limited than those of the global alliances and Maersk Sealand.

   Under an agreement filed with the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission, the CP Ships carriers and Maersk Sealand will be allowed to exchange slots in the trade connecting the ports of Oakland, Los Angeles, Tacoma, Anchorage and Vancouver, British Columbia, on the one hand, and the ports of Nagoya, Kobe, Tokyo, Yokohama, Kwangyang, Busan, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Xiamen and Qingdao, on the other hand.

   The agreement will terminate April 30, 2005.

   CP Ships has sought to expand its modest presence in the transpacific trade. It currently operates relatively small containerships on its “Asia Canada Sprint,” “Asia North America Sprint” and the “MaxPac” transpacific loops, which serve mainly Canada, Alaska and Mexico. Lykes, TMM and Canada Maritime started the “Asia North America Sprint” service in March, using vessels with an average capacity of 1,500 TEUs.

   Maersk Sealand operates five Asia/U.S. West Coast and two Asia/U.S. East Coast weekly services using its own ships in the transpacific trade, where it is largest carrier.