Container carrier APL is quitting the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA), a research and discussion forum of container shipping lines operating in the trade lane from the U.S. to Asia.
APL, a unit of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines, will leave WTSA effective September 1, the third box ship to do so over the past 10 years, after the departure of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines in June 2005 and Maersk Line in July 2002.
The departure of APL leaves WTSA with just nine members: Evergreen Line, Hanjin Shipping, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, “K” Line, NYK Line, OOCL, COSCO Container Lines, and Yang Ming.
The remaining WTSA carriers are said to control 55 percent of the total westbound Asia-North America capacity.
WTSA was established in 1990 and, over time, replaced a more rigid rate conference system in the U.S.-Asia market.
Its activities extend to the second largest ocean container trade lane in the world, with some 1.7 million 40-foot containers shipped annually. Countries included in WTSA’s scope are the U.S., Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the Russian Far East.
Photo courtesy of NOL
