MAERSK JOINS AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND/U.S. VSA

MAERSK JOINS AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND/U.S. VSA    Maersk Sealand and four other carriers operating between the West
Coast of North America and ports in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands are forming a vessel-sharing agreement.
   The agreement is an extension of an existing four-carrier cooperative agreement between ANZDL (part of CP Ships), Columbus Line (part of Hamburg Sud), FESCO and P&O Nedlloyd on the same trade route.
   Under the proposed five-carrier vessel-sharing agreement, the group will jointly operate 15 vessels in a twice weekly service covering the full range of West Coast North American ports from Vancouver in Canada to Manzanillo in Mexico.
   Officials for the participating lines said there would be no substantive change in the current slot capacity provided in the trade.
   The addition of Maersk Sealand to the U.S. West Coast/Australia/New Zealand vessel-sharing agreement means that all major carriers in the trade will now be part of a joint service. Until now, Maersk Sealand has operated a limited Australia/New Zealand/Pacific Southwest service as part of an independent service to and from the U.S. East Coast.
   The new service structure of the vessel-sharing agreement is scheduled to be launched in the first quarter of 2003.