Orphans no more, six ocean cargo carriers form an “Alliance”

Six of the eight “orphan” ocean carriers not included in the proposed OCEAN Alliance or the 2M Alliance have
found a home of sorts, coming together to form a new vessel sharing agreement (VSA) referred to as “THE Alliance.”

The proposed ocean carrier alliance will include Hapag-Lloyd of Germany, MOL, NYK and “K” Line, Yang Ming and South Korean line Hanjin, with the possibility of adding HMM and UASC later this year.

The Alliance will begin service in April 2017 to be extended over five years. 

According to spokesmen for HMM, “the door remains open,” once it has finished its debt restructuring. And that’s a good thing, says Seaintelligence Consulting analyst, Lar Jensen:

“The carrier will have a hard time surviving in its current form unless it joins the new global container collaboration.

As reported in LM, Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co., struck a partnership deal some time ago, and analysts expect smaller players to strike similar deals so as not to lose yet more market share.

Jensen noted that Hapag-Lloyd is also in separate merger talks with UASC, and reckons that the Dubai-based carrier will also join the Alliance.