NEGOTIATIONS FOR REVAMP OF TRANSATLANTIC TRADE
The four member lines of the Grand Alliance are negotiating internally, and with CP Ships, APL and Mitsui OSK Lines, over a big revamp of their transatlantic services planned for July.
Several of the carriers involved confirmed that the talks are taking place but refused to comment on their likely outcome.
The vessel-sharing agreements of Grand Alliance members P&O Nedlloyd and Orient Overseas Containers Ltd. with Maersk Sealand expires in July.
At present Grand Alliance members Hapag-Lloyd and Nippon Yusen Kaisha are providing the “PAX” service connecting northern Europe and both coasts of North America.
P&O Nedlloyd and OOCL operate joint services to the U.S. East and Gulf coasts with Maersk Sealand.
Hapag-Lloyd is also in partnership with TMM and Lykes Lines, subsidiaries of CP Ships, in the “South Atlantic Sprint” and “Gumex” services covering the southern U.S. and Mexico from Northern Europe.
The ending of the Maersk Sealand “VSA” agreements in July will leave P&O Nedlloyd and OOCL free to leave Maersk Sealand and remove the cargo currently carried in Maersk Sealand’s nine large “econ-ships.” This fuels their search for a collective Grand Alliance solution to absorb all their displaced cargo.
If they succeed, Maersk Sealand would also have to reorganise its transatlantic operation.
Under the talks now taking place, and leaving aside the “PAX” service, a new form of slot-sharing agreement is likely. Grand Alliance lines would provide one northern and one southern U.S. service each week and CP Ships would provide two more.
If New World Alliance members APL and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines join in with this, theirs will emerge as the new most divided alliance in the Atlantic. The third New World member, Hyundai Merchant Marine, is in a separate partnership with Mediterranean Shipping.