Amid concerns that the 2M alliance between Maersk Line and MSC will suffer the same fate as its P3 predecessor and be stymied by Chinese regulators, the two ocean carriers have released their proposed service port rotations for the east-west vessel sharing agreement (VSA) across 21 services.
It is expected to deploy 185 vessels with a total capacity of 2.1m teu, and a full service guide can be downloaded here.
Specific terminals are not included in the pro-forma schedules – suggesting either that stevedoring contracts have yet to be finalised, or that Maersk and MSC do not want to antagonise regulators by assuming 2M’s approval.
Nevertheless, the six services planned for Asia-North Europe represent a combination of each carriers’ strong hub ports – with the exception of Wilhelmshaven, which looks set to receive two weekly deepsea calls – and it is too early to say which ports stand to be the winners or losers from the proposed itinerary.
Bringing a hitherto fierce competitor into a ‘home’ patch could be a gamble for both carriers. However, with Maersk and MSC, in theory, set to enjoy similar unit costs, they may prefer to attack the softer underbelly of rival alliances handicapped by a higher cost bases.
In addition to Asia to North Europe, where it would dominate with around 32% of the capacity share, the 2M proposes five services between Asia and the Mediterranean; four from Asia to the US west coast; two loops from Asia to the US east coast via the Suez Canal and one through Panama; three services between North Europe and the US on the transatlantic; and two between the Mediterranean and the US.
Maersk claims clients will see less disruption due to skipped sailings, which shippers have repeatedly told The Loadstar often happen with short notice and are the bane of even the biggest of the 3PLs.
It said: “Due to overlaps in port coverage, our new network will minimise disruptive effects on customers of blank sailings. The network will, among many other things, feature a new direct connection from Shanghai to the Black Sea – as well as a new direct service from France (Le Havre) and Sweden (Gothenburg) to ports in Japan.”
Meanwhile, MSC has overcome its hitherto media-shy image by including a personal foreword from chief executive Diego Aponte, who said: “The VSA aims to deliver improved services to our customers booking on MSC’s east-west services.”
He continued: “The proposed VSA will provide an increased number of port pairs, more direct ports of call and enhanced transit times.”
Significantly, in view of MSC’s low ranking in terms of schedule reliability versus the table-topping Maersk, Mr Aponte added: “Schedule integrity will improve as a result of an increased number of weekly sailings.”
And with previous comments from Maersk about the approval process hitting a raw nerve with regulators there is also an indirect message for agencies from Mr Aponte: “At this point we continue to work closely with authorities, helping in any way that we can to ensure that the 2M VSA will be approved.”
Soren Skou, CEO, Maersk Line
SHANGHAI, Sept 19 (Reuters) – Maersk Line’s chief executive has paid visits to Chinese authorities about its planned vessel sharing alliance with a Swiss company – including to the Ministry of Commerce which previously blocked a bigger ship-pooling scheme on competition concerns.
Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping firm and part of Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk, is hoping that its sharing agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) will go smoothly.
The new pact is seen by analysts as having a better chance of gaining China’s blessing as it will give the shippers under 30 percent of capacity on Asia-Europe shipping routes – much less than an earlier agreement that also included France’s CMA CGM.
Maersk has said the new pact does not need approval from the commerce ministry and that the company only needs to file details with China’s transport ministry.
But a Maersk spokeswoman said the company had initiated the meeting and that it was only natural to update the commerce ministry on the plans given its decision to block the other agreement in June.
“We fully understand MOFCOM’s decision which is why we have decided to engage in a traditional (vessel-sharing agreement) with MSC,” she wrote in an e-mailed reply, adding that the pact was similar to many other such arrangements in the industry.
Chief Executive Soren Skou met on Friday with the director-general of commerce ministry’s anti-monopoly bureau, Shang Ming, who said in a July interview with China’s state broadcaster he was worried the new pact could affect China’s import-export firms’ ability to bargain with big shipping firms.
The two discussed the ministry’s decision to block the previous alliance, the new pact and monopoly issues.
Soren also met China’s Vice Minister of Transport, He Jianzhong, on Thursday during which they discussed the Chinese shipping market, a government notice said.
The new service, called 2M, is currently waiting on U.S. regulatory approval. A.P. Moller Maersk’s chief executive on Wednesday called the U.S. approval a formality.
Shipping firms are forming such alliances to reduce costs as the industry emerges from a prolonged slump. CMA CGM in September announced a tie-up with China Shipping Container Lines and United Arab Shipping Company after being left out of 2M. (Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Maersk, MSC Call US Regulator to Approve 2M
Posted on Sep 19th, 2014 with tags approve, asia, call, europe, Maersk, MSC, News by topic, Regulator, SHIPPING, US, vessel, £2M.
Senior executives representing shipping giants Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Maersk Line are in Washington to clear any doubts the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) might have on giving the green light to the recently-announced 2M vessel-sharing agreement between the two companies.
The executives asked U.S. regulators to swiftly approve their joint venture so as to avoid delay of the 2M launch scheduled for January next year, the Wall Street Journal quoted sources close to the matter as saying.
The US FMC has 45 days to review the proposal, but the clock could be stopped if the body were to decide to ask carriers additional questions on the matter. The regulations state that once the 45-day process is stopped, it can not be continued, but rather a new 45-day review period starts.
If all goes well, the 2M could be approved in the U.S. on October 11, which according to industry experts is looking more and more unrealistic.
Maersk signed a 10 year Vessel Sharing Agreement with MSC on the Asia-Europe, Transatlantic and Transpacific trades in July.
If given the “go ahead” the alliance would assume control of a 35% market share in Asia-to-Europe trade loop, cutting a combined USD 1 billion in operational costs.
The VSA will include 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million TEU, deployed on 21 strings.
The agreement was reached one month after China’s Ministry of Commerce refused to approve the P3 alliance which included the two firms and France’s CMA CGM.
The 2M VSA differs from the earlier proposed P3 alliance in two important aspects: the combined market share is much smaller, and this cooperation is a pure VSA. There will be no jointly owned independent entity with executional powers. It is projected that 2M would give the two companies less than 30 percent on the Asia-Europe route.
The 2M alliance will also be featured on the agenda of the upcoming annual US-China maritime-agreement consultation in Shanghai in November, where the US representatives hope to learn of China’s outlook on the proposed alliance, as well as to find out more about the review process.
Both MSC and Maersk announced that they improved their East-West network services with new schedules to routes that fall within the 2M scope.
A collaboration between container shipping lines Maersk and MSC delivers the port extra volume. This is evident from their new sailing schedules. Writes the specialized magazine Flows and confirmed by the harbor. Zeebrugge there is less good news: that port are missing out.
The shipping companies are working together through a "Vessel Sharing Agreement" under the name 2M, which covers 185 vessels with a total capacity of 2.1 million TEUs (twenty-foot containers). Deployed on the east-west routes (Asia-Europe, Europe-US and US-Asia).
The new route schedule Antwerp gets an extra transatlantic connection (from two to three), and on the route from the Far East reserves Antwerp three starting, but within a single run, the port operated both an import and an export call.
Whether this extra traffic also will deliver new jobs, according to the port of Antwerp still hard to say. "Well, there is a move of MSC from Right to Left planned. This move and the volume of 2M will generate extra jobs, but we can not figure on stick, "said spokeswoman Annik Dirkx.
Zeebrugge there is less good news, reports Flows. That port loses a service of Maersk and MSC.
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