Shipping lines Maersk and MSC filed their 2M vessel-sharing proposal with the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) this week. The joint venture is expected to notify customers of network and transit times by the end of September.
The world’s two largest container shippers drafted the vessel sharing agreement (VSA) agreement in July, after China's Ministry of Commerce blocked plans to combine with France’s CMA due to competition concerns.
The FMC now has 45 days to give approval for the VSA which, unlike the earlier P3 alliance, will not need approval from China’s commerce ministry, according to Maersk China's managing director Jens Eskelund
2M to carry 2.1 m TEUs
The 2M agreement is expected to include 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million TEUs, deployed on 21 strings and will last 10 years. It will replace all existing VSAs and slot purchase agreements that Maersk Line and MSC have on the Asia-Europe, Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific trades.
“The 2M VSA differs from the earlier proposed P3 alliance in two important ways: first of all, the combined market share is much smaller. Secondly the cooperation is a pure VSA. There will be no jointly owned independent entity with executional powers,” Maersk said in a statement.
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