2M instead of P3
Maersk Line and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) have signed a 10-year vessel-sharing agreement (VSA) on the Asia–Europe, transatlantic and transpacific trades, to be called 2M. The VSA is expected to start early in 2015. However, the exact starting date is conditioned by filing of information to and in some cases approval from the relevant authorities.
2M will replace all existing VSAs and slot purchase agreements that Maersk Line has in these trades. Of course the purpose of the cooperation is to share infrastructure to improve the network efficiency, but Maersk Line said the 2M VSA differs from the earlier proposed P3 alliance in two important ways: First of all, the combined market share, which is now much smaller. Secondly, the cooperation is a pure VSA. There will be no jointly-owned independent entity with executional powers.
The VSA will include 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million teu, deployed on 21 strings in the Asia–Europe, transatlantic (Europe–US east coast) and transpacific (Asia–US east and west coast) trades.
The strings are split as follows:
Asia–North Europe: 6
Asia–Mediterranean: 4
Asia–US west coast: 4
Asia–US east coast: 2
Northern Europe–USA: 3
Mediterranean–USA: 2
The VSA does not include joint marine operations. Each party will thus execute their own operations including stowage, voyage planning and port operations. Also, 2M does not include any commercial tasks or responsibilities. Each party will continue to have fully independent sales, pricing, marketing, and customer service functions. A joint coordination committee will monitor the network on a daily basis.
Maersk Line will contribute approximately 110 vessels with a nominal capacity of about 1.2 million teu (55% of the total capacity), whilst MSC will contribute approximately 75 vessels with a nominal capacity of about 0.9 million teu (45% of the total capacity). Vessels deployed in 2M will continue to be owned (or chartered) and operated by the two individual lines.