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Six lines to form new shipping alliance

[ May 13, 2016   //   ]

Yet another shipping alliance is born

MOL, NYK, K Line, Hanjin, Hapag-Lloyd and Yang Ming are to create a new alliance covering all east-west trades including Asia-Europe/Mediterranean, the Transatlantic, Asia-North America and Asia-Middle East, and have signed a binding agreement.

‘THE Alliance’ is scheduled to begin operation in April 2017 subject to regulatory approval and the initial term of the cooperation will be five years.

The new partnership will create a network of 3.5 million teu ship capacity or 18% of the global container fleet with 620 ships in total.

Discussions between Hapag-Lloyd and UASC on a financial merger arem also progressing according to plan, although an agreement on business combination has not yet been reached. However, it is anticipated that UASC would also become part of THE Alliance, boosting its capacity to more than 4m teu.

THE Alliance members said in a statement: “This agreement is a milestone and will enable the six partners of THE Alliance to offer sailing frequencies and direct coverage in the market. The unique product will feature enhanced port coverage in Asia, North America, Europe including the Mediterranean as well as Middle East. The network will ensure frequent sailings, high reliability and very attractive transit times for all shippers in the East-West trade lanes. ”

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