Maersk, CMA CGM now agree transatlantic tie-up

Maersk Line's transpacific pact with CMA CGM will be extended to another trade after all, with the news that the French carrier will charter slots on the transatlantic leg of Maersk's weekly Europe/U.S. East Coast/Central America/U.S. West Coast/Asia TA3/TP7 pendulum service, effective April 17.

About the same time, CMA CGM, Maersk and Swiss line Mediterranean Shipping Co. will start working together in the Asia/U.S. West Coast trade under a previously announced vessel sharing agreement that will see the European carriers attempt to reduce slot costs by introducing larger ships on three joint services instead of four independent strings. Executives from CMA CGM and Maersk recently said the companies had no immediate plans to expand the scope of their cooperation.

Under the transatlantic agreement, CMA CGM will take 900 TEUs from the Danish carrier to and from ports in North Europe and New York (Newark), Savannah and Miami. Consequently, CMA CGM will terminate its joint Liberty Bridge/EAX service with China Shipping Container Lines that uses four ships averaging 2,500 TEUs (two from each line), which represents 3.4 percent of the one-way weekly North Europe/U.S. trade vessel capacity, according to the last World Liner Supply report of American Shipper's sister company ComPair Data published in January.

The port rotation of the Liberty Bridge/EAX service is Le Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Liverpool, Boston (CMA CGM ships only), New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, and back to Le Havre.

The transatlantic trade has suffered from surplus capacity and we expect this slot charter agreement will bring balance to the capacity in the trade, Maersk said in a statement.

Maersk already charters transatlantic space on the TA3/TP7 to the New World Alliance carriers APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and MOL. The service uses 12 ships averaging nearly 4,300 TEUs and has a full itinerary of Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Le Havre, New York, Savannah, Miami, Balboa, Los Angeles, Oakland, Shanghai, Yantian, Hong Kong, Busan, Balboa, Miami, Savannah, Charleston, New York and Bremerhaven.