Members of the OCEAN Alliance—Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), Cosco Container Lines, CMA CGM, and Evergreen Line—have unveiled their service network covering six trade lanes, saying this is tentatively set to begin April next year.
This as they announced signing on November 3 a document entitled the Day One Product, which sets out the proposed OCEAN Alliance’s network, including port rotation for each service loop.
The Day One network intends to deploy around 350 container vessels with an estimated total carrying capacity of 3.5 million TEUs on six trade lanes. Vessel deployment details for each service loop will be released around end of this November, the alliance said in a joint official statement.
There will be 41 service offerings in all for the OCEAN Alliance’s network with around 100 ports of call and almost 500 port pairs. The trans-Pacific has the most number of services with 20 and an estimated 160 port pairs. These services are broken down into 13 Asia-West Coast North America (WCNA) services and seven Asia-East Coast North America and U.S. Gulf services. The Asia-WCNA services are further subdivided into nine Pacific Southwest and four Pacific Northwest services.
The other loops are Asia-Europe with six services (estimated 110 port pairs), Asia-Mediterranean with five services (estimated 165 port pairs), trans-Atlantic with three services (estimated 70 port pairs), Asia-Middle East with five services (estimated 70 port pairs), and Asia-Red Sea with two services (estimated 35 port pairs).
“We are very pleased with our progress and close collaboration with our partners in putting together an outstanding selection of Day One Products,” said Andy Tung, CEO of OOCL. “With the expanded network, extensive market connections and improved efficiencies, OOCL stands ready to embrace our new opportunities and deliver the best that we have to offer to our customers.”
The joint statement added: “The signing of the Day One Product marks an important step forward to show just how committed we are in developing the most competitive products to market and the high level of synergy and confidence we share in the partnership.”
The alliance said it has filed the master agreement (alliance agreement) with the Ministry of Transport of China, and that the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission and South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries have approved the alliance.
The consortium has also completed its EU self-assessment compliance review and said it is “satisfied that its agreement and services are compliant with EU regulatory requirements, following satisfactory completion of a self-assessment of its activities under EU competition rules and discussions with the EU Commission.”
“Moving forward, the OCEAN Alliance will continue to work closely with all the authorities to ensure full compliance with applicable laws and regulations and secure the necessary regulatory approvals for the OCEAN Alliance to commence operations from April 1 2017,” it continued.
CMA CGM is main contributor
In a separate statement, CMA CGM said it will have the largest share within the alliance, deploying a fleet of 119 vessels with a 35% capacity share.
“Ocean Alliance is the largest operational agreement ever made between shipping companies. With more than 40 maritime services, we will be sharing our fleet with the largest Asian shipping companies. By offering more ports and more direct calls, as well as better transit times, we will provide our customers with unmatched quality services,” said Rodolphe Saade, CMA CGM group vice chairman.
Photo: Basil D Soufi
