HATSU APPLIES TO FMC TO JOIN EVERGREEN VESSEL-SHARING AGREEMENT

HATSU APPLIES TO FMC TO JOIN EVERGREEN VESSEL-SHARING AGREEMENT    Hatsu Marine Ltd., the new U.K.-based shipowning arm of the Taiwanese Evergreen group, has applied to the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission to join the transpacific vessel-sharing agreement of Evergreen Marine Corp. and Lloyd Triestino.
   All three companies are affiliated Evergreen group companies.
   Hatsu Marine announced recently that it would enter the transpacific trade, and contribute vessels to the existing service currently operated by Evergreen and Lloyd Triestino.
   Hatsu Marine, Evergreen and Lloyd Triestino filed with the FMC a revision to the Evergreen/Lloyd Triestino Alliance Agreement that adds Hatsu Marine as a party to the agreement; adds four additional vessels to be delivered between April of 2002 and June of 2003, replacing four Evergreen vessels; and adds certain items concerning the sharing of personnel for supervisory, administrative, marketing, accounting, and operational functions.
   Hatsu Marine Ltd., formally established on Jan. 2, is headquartered in London. It owns one container vessel, the 6,332-TEU “Hatsu Eagle” which currently trades on the transpacific route. The company will take delivery in March of a sister ship, the “Hatsu Envoy.”
   Slin Yeh, the new president of Hatsu Marine, said recently that the company will be “a fully-fledged container shipping line.” It aims to offer a global container network, slot sharing with Evergreen Marine    Corp. and Lloyd Triestino on various services linking Europe, Asia and North America.
   The move by the Evergreen group follows an increasingly common policy to combine the marketing forces of several carrier affiliates on the same trade routes, as followed by the multi-carrier CP Ships group, the Maersk Sealand/Safmarine group, Hanjin Shipping/Senator Lines and Compania Sud Americana de Vapores group and the Hamburg-Sud/Crowley American Transport/Alianca/Columbus group.