The new Oceans Alliance that everyone within the industry has already been talking about for 12 months will be commencing in April of this year. The Ocean Alliance was born in Shanghai in April 2016 when shipping companies including CMA CGM, China Cosco Shipping, Evergreen Line, and OOCL signed a piece of paper that stated they would together offer more than 40 global services, all of which will be responsible for connecting markets in Asia, Europe, and the United States.
The new alliance has been set to last for five years after commencement in April 2017. In a joint statement issued by the carriers, it was stated that they are excited about the partnership as they feel that it will allow each member to bring drastically improved services to all customers. Along with this, the newly formed alliance will also be a platform for the carriers’ ongoing growth. This growth is set to see improvements in costs, and ultimately profits, as well as efficiency in general.
The service networks will include the Asia-Europe, Asia-Mediterranean, Asia-Red Sea, Asia-Middle East, trans-Pacific, Asia-North America East Coast and trans-Atlantic trades with the help of 350 state of the art container ships.
The agreement has included plenty of strategic planning with an emphasis on joint service cooperation and the ability to adapt to customers’ ever-changing demands. “Joint service cooperation is an essential part of our own strategic planning,” said Lawrence Lee, CEO of Evergreen Marine Corp. “This new alliance enables us to optimize fleet deployment and offer competitive service to meet customers’ changing demand.”
Along with focusing on improving its own service offering, another reason for the formation of the new alliance was to lessen the power held by two of the largest global carrier lines, namely Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co, otherwise known as the 2M Alliance.
Only time will tell if the new alliance will benefit those involved, but with everyone’s positive attitudes and obvious planning, it is expected that things will work out as hoped. Stay tuned to our Blogs and News page for more related news! Alternatively, if you are interested in learning more about our quality, cost effective shipping solutions, please get in touch with us.
