G6 Alliance plans expansion to Trans-Pacific West Coast and Trans-Atlantic trades

Members of the G6 Alliance today announced plans to expand their cooperation to the Asia-North America West Coast and Trans-Atlantic trade lanes.

The G6 Alliance said the expanded cooperation will provide customers with more service choices and increased sailing frequency. For example, on the Asia-North America West Coast trade, each G6 Alliance member will be able to offer almost twice as many sailings, compared to what is currently offered separately by The New World Alliance and the Grand Alliance.

The G6 Alliance plans to deploy about 76 ships across 12 services connecting 27 Asian and North America West Coast ports. Approximately another 42 ships will be deployed across five services including two pendulum services in the Trans-Atlantic trade lane calling at 25 ports covering the US East Coast, US West Coast, Canada, Panama, Mexico, Netherlands, the UK, France, Belgium and Germany.

With this step, the G6 Alliance will provide a network comprising all East-West trade lanes deploying a total of about 240 vessels connecting 66 Asian, American and European ports.

The new services are scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2014, pending regulatory approval. Details on services and port rotations will be announced at a later date. < Korea Shipping Gazette >