Want to stay up to date on maritime alliances and industry? We make it easy for you. All you have to do is sign up for our free industry updates. This way, all you have to do is open your inbox and let us keep you up to date with our high-quality content? 2M is also skeptical about maintaining its alliance with HMM. The alliance recently decided to enter into a strategic partnership with Zim Integrated Shipping Services, an Israeli shipping company, for U.S. routes, putting HMM in a more damaging position. Alliance membership seems to be well suited to small shipping companies (extended service coverage) and large shipping companies (resource rationalization). But at the end of the day, each airline makes its own strategic decisions. This becomes clear when you look at the different strategies of MSC and its German competitor Hapag-Lloyd. Some shipping industry experts say HMM will join a new maritime alliance other than 2M based on its expanded fleet, as the 20 vessels ordered by HMM this year will be delivered from 2020. In particular, if HMM completes the acquisition of a stake in Busan New Port 4, which handles a high volume of transshipments, it will be able to secure a favorable position in negotiations with global maritime alliances.
But how do maritime alliances differ from each other and why did HMM decide to join THE Alliance? Together, the three main maritime alliances account for 80% of the maritime transport market. They also include all the top 10 container lines. «Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) will join the alliance when the slot charter agreement with 2M expires next April,» Loadstar said. You can read more about the ship`s agents and their role in maritime alliances here ? An attempt to create the P3, a global tripartite alliance that included Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM, was rejected by Chinese authorities earlier this year. The new 2M agreement allows MSC and Maersk to buy and sell slots on container ships on an ad hoc basis or, if the other airline does not want to buy them, sell them to another airline subject to regulatory requirements. However, the agreement restricts MSC and Maersk`s activities with third parties on the roads covered by VSA 2M. The agreement submitted to the FMC states: «No Party may enter into an agreement with a ship of a third country operating a common carrier after the actual commencement of services under this Agreement for the purpose of obtaining the acquisition, sale or sharing of commercial slots, except as expressly permitted in this Agreement.» The new 2M agreement allows the two airlines to discuss and agree on the terminals to be handled by the ships and the volume of cargo to be handled by these terminals. However, it adds that MSC and Maersk «will independently negotiate with marine terminal operators, longshoremen, tug operators, other suppliers or suppliers of other ship-related goods and services and/or domestic carriers in the United States and enter into separate individual contracts» and that each shipping company «retains its distinct identity and has sales functions, of completely separate and independent pricing and marketing.» The two companies are aiming for a long-term partnership. FMC`s filing indicates that the agreement will last for at least 10 years, although either party may terminate if the other company becomes insolvent or undergoes a change of control. Asset sharing and maritime alliances have much in common.
And both are how the industry is constantly trying to renew itself and keep up with the growing global demand for goods. Maritime alliances can help carriers enable low prices and broad service coverage through economies of scale and economies of scale. The high structure of the fixed costs of shipping companies is one of the main arguments in favour of the cooperation of shipping companies. Regular weekly service between different ports requires investments in a number of ships. They will browse regardless of their usage rate. Collaboration between carriers, for example through a Ship Sharing Agreement (VSA), can mitigate this risk and increase utilization rates. Maersk and MSC plan to initially operate 97 vessels ranging in size from 4,000 TEUs to 13,000 TEUs under the 2M Vessel Sharing Agreement on traffic to and from the United States, but may be able to operate up to 130 vessels with a capacity of up to 19,200 TEUs. The two companies announced some details of the Maersk/MSC ship-sharing agreement, which was submitted to FMC on Wednesday. The companies have not specified on which routes they will operate, except to say that they could encompass much of the geography. `The territorial scope of the Agreement extends to transactions between: (a) the ports of Northern Europe (Northern Cape, Norway at Europa Point (Gibraltar) and the Mediterranean Sea (Spain, Italy and Malta), on the one hand, and the ports of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts of the United States, as well as the ports of Mexico and the Bahamas, on the other; and (b) ports in Asia (countries in the region from Japan to Malaysia) and Sri Lanka, Oman, Egypt, Morocco and the countries bordering the Adriatic, the Bahamas, Panama and Canada on the one hand, and ports on the Atlantic coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific of the United States on the other)», the agreement reads. They also noted, as previously announced, that 2M will operate in Asia-Europe trade – which is not regulated by the CMF – and on which they have not provided any additional information. The agreement noted that both companies can gradually enter and exit tonnage, including adding «additional shippers» when demand is high and jumping or rolling when demand is low.
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