China-based Cosco Shipping Ports and France’s CMA Terminals Holding have forged a pact to cooperate and give priority to the ports where Ocean Alliance ships will make their visits.
On January 20, Cosco Shipping Ports signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Shanghai with CMA CGM’s port subsidiary, CMA Terminals Holding, committing to collaborate in ports worldwide and give preference to ports that the Ocean Alliance calls.
The Ocean Alliance consists of the carriers Evergreen and OOCL, and the liner units of Cosco Shipping and CMA CGM groups. Slated to start operations in April, the alliance is the largest of the three main vessel-sharing consortia, having 350 vessels with a carrying capacity of about 3.5 million TEUs.
The Ocean Alliance will be competing with the 2M Alliance of Maersk and MSC, and with THE Alliance, which consists of Hapag-Lloyd, K Line, MOL, NYK, and Yang Ming Marine. THE Alliance will likewise begin operations in April of this year, while the 2M is already operating.
“Since the establishment of the Ocean Alliance, the cooperation between Cosco Shipping Ports and CMA Terminals Holding has become closer. Both sides wish to create more opportunities in global port investment and operation. The discussion of cooperation began in early 2016 and on this basis, both sides have recently reached consensus and signed the MOU,” said a joint release from the two parties.
Cosco Shipping Ports’ controlling shareholder is Cosco Shipping Holdings, whose parent company, Cosco Shipping Group, is one of the largest integrated shipping enterprises in the world. Based in China, Cosco Shipping Ports’ network of terminals extends to more than 30 ports worldwide, covering the main five port clusters along the Chinese coast, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea, among others.
CMA CGM is a leading worldwide shipping group with 536 vessels calling more than 420 ports in the world on all five continents.
Cosco Shipping Ports and CMA Terminals also agreed to provide support in terms of business and service to the ports that the other side has already invested, said the statement.
Photo: Roman Boed
