CKYHE looks to expand into US trades

Box line alliance requests permission from FMC to begin discussions.

THE CKYHE Alliance has started the formal process to examine the expansion of its agreement to US trade lanes.

Cosco Container Lines, K Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin Shipping and Evergreen have submitted a discussion agreement to the US Federal Maritime Commission.

If this is approved, they will then be allowed to discuss among themselves their options to replicate the co-operation they have in place on the Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean trade lanes on US trades.

An Evergreen spokesman told Containerisation International that it would take at least 45 days from the date of submission for the carriers to get approval from the FMC to start discussions.

"After the discussion agreement is effective, CKYHE members will then start the discussion,?the spokesman said.

"After the member carriers reach consensus on service adjustments, they have to file the alliance agreement with the FMC and other authorities concerned to update the service scope. It will take another 45 days or more to get the approval."

The discussion agreement was filed on May 22, meaning the earliest date on which carriers could receive permission to begin discussions would be July 6. The move is no real surprise as carriers have been positioning themselves into three main global alliances on the east-west trades. This has resulted in carriers breaking off joint services with those in rival agreements.

The P3 Network plans to operate on the transpacific, transatlantic and Asia-Europe trade lanes, although it is still awaiting regulatory approval.
The G6 Alliance is in the process of adding the transatlantic and Asia-North America west coast to its network offering, which already covers the Asia-North America east coast and Asia-Europe trade lanes.

Meanwhile, the CKYHE Alliance is only in place on services from Asia to Europe, although the CKYH Alliance, without Evergreen, does exist on the transpacific and transatlantic trade lanes.

Partners United Arab Shipping Co and China Shipping Container Lines also have slot exchange agreements with the CKYHE Alliance.

The discussion agreement states: "The purpose of this agreement is to authorise the parties to discuss and determine whether and how the synergies and efficiencies that have characterised their foreign-foreign co-operation might be replicated in the US foreign trades.

"Toward that end, the parties are empowered to discuss a wide range of options regarding possible co-operation, and to exchange information relevant to the evaluation of such options, in order to provide the highest quality, most efficient service(s) in the trade and to optimise the use of each party's assets."
 

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