Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM announce new alliance

   The three largest container shipping carriers in the world, Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM, said this morning they have agreed in principle to establish a long-term operational alliance on East–West trades, which they’re calling the “P3 Network.”
   The carriers said the P3 Network would initially operate 255 ships with 2.6 million TEUs of capacity on three trade lanes: Asia – Europe, transpacific and transatlantic. They hope to begin operation of the network in the second quarter of next year, subject to obtaining the approval of relevant competition and other regulatory authorities.
   The three carriers have cooperated on some services before, but the alliance outlined today is much more extensive. They said it will “improve and optimize operations and service offerings.”
   According to the Alphaliner list of liner capacity among the 100 largest container shipping companies, the three carriers collectively own or charter ships with about 6.4 million TEUs of capacity or about 37 percent of the world container fleet of 17.3 million TEUs. So the new alliance involves about 40 percent of the three carrier’s combined tonnage and about 15 percent of the world container fleet….